TOKYO, Sep 12 (Kyodo/APP): Japan’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that the Self-Defense Forces have visually confirmed China’s newest aircraft carrier Fujian for the first time as it sailed in the East China Sea.
China’s third aircraft carrier is known as its first with an electromagnetic catapult system that makes efficient aircraft-launching possible. The ministry’s Joint Staff said it is analyzing whether the carrier has officially entered service or is still operating on a trial basis.
Once the ship officially becomes part of the growing Chinese naval fleet, the impact will be felt throughout a region with myriad potential conflict spots, including Taiwan, which Beijing claims as a renegade province that must be reunited with the mainland.
The Japanese ministry’s Joint Staff said the Maritime Self-Defense Force sighted Fujian sailing about 200 kilometers northwest of the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands on Thursday. China also claims the islands, calling them Diaoyu.
Along with two missile-equipped destroyers, the carrier headed southwest in the direction of the Taiwan Strait, it said. No carrier-based aircraft were spotted as an MSDF P-3C Orion surveillance plane monitored the ship.