China has completed its first dual aircraft carrier operation, as tensions over Taiwan continue to rise following incendiary remarks by President Xi Jinping in October.
The naval exercise was conducted in the disputed waters of the South China Sea and involved both the CNS Liaoning and CNS Shandong.
China’s military released photos showing both aircraft carriers accompanied overhead by at least 12 fighter jets crossing an undisclosed area of the sea.
The Liaoning has been involved in a series of drills since September.
Between September 20 and October 1, the aircraft carrier was spotted west of the island of Guam and east of the Philippines.
The flotilla it headed came within 559 miles of Guam, where the US has a naval base that is home to some of its Los Angeles nuclear-powered submarines.
The Liaoning then led a carrier strike group through the 110-mile-wide Taiwan Strait in an ominous show of strength.
China has long viewed Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory and has made no secret of its ambition to regain control over the island.
President Xi Jinping reiterated Beijing’s determination to achieve “reunification” at the beginning of October, during celebrations of Communist China’s 75th birthday.
At a banquet for communist party grandees, he said: “It’s an irreversible trend, a cause of righteousness and the common aspiration of the people.
“No one can stop the march of history.”
The two sides have been ruled by separate governments since 1949, after the end of the Chinese civil war.
The communists took power in Beijing and founded the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949, while the defeated nationalists fled to Taiwan, moving the seat of the Republic of China from the mainland to Taipei.
Xi has increasingly used aggressive rhetoric to assert China’s right to take back Taiwan, threatening to use force if necessary.
“Taiwan is China’s sacred territory,” he told those attending the banquet.
“Blood is thicker than water, and people on both sides of the strait are connected by blood.”
