Chinese Carrier Fujian Passes Through Taiwan Strait During Military Drills

The transit comes as Taiwan is conducting wartime readiness exercises and a major U.S.-led naval exercise is underway near Hawaii.

China’s Fujian aircraft carrier, also known by its hull number CV-18, transits the Taiwan Strait on June 23, 2026. ROC Ministry of National Defense

China’s newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, passed through the Taiwan Strait on June 23, the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense said, putting a major Chinese naval platform in the waterway separating Taiwan from China.

Taiwan’s military tracked the carrier with joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems, the ministry said. The ship is also known by its hull number, CV-18.

The ministry did not give the carrier’s exact route, escort ships, or time in the strait.

The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense also reported a Fujian transit in December 2025. China’s oldest carrier, Liaoning, transited the waterway in April.

Taiwan Tests Wartime Readiness

The transit came during Taiwan’s five-day Immediate Combat Readiness Exercise, which began on June 22 and runs through June 26.

The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense said the drill is testing how fast its forces can shift from peacetime to wartime operations, deploy to key positions, maintain command links, and sustain combat logistics.

Earlier Epoch Times reporting detailed the start of the exercise and its focus on active-duty forces.

A day after the Fujian’s transit, the U.S.-led Rim of the Pacific exercise, known as RIMPAC, began in and around the Hawaiian Islands.

U.S. Pacific Fleet said the exercise runs from June 24 to July 31 and includes 31 nations, approximately 40 surface ships, five submarines, 140 aircraft, and more than 25,000 personnel.

The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense did not link the Fujian transit to either exercise.

China’s New Carrier

The Fujian is China’s third aircraft carrier and its first electromagnetic-catapult carrier.

The Chinese Ministry of National Defense announced on Nov. 7, 2025, that Fujian had been commissioned two days earlier at Sanya, a naval base on China’s Hainan Island.

In January, the ministry said the Fujian’s post-commissioning test and training tasks were moving ahead as planned and advancing toward carrier-group combat capability.

The ship’s passage gives Taiwan another real-time look at how Beijing is moving its newest carrier as the island trains for a faster wartime transition.

Western Governments Raise Concern

The carrier transit came during a broader week of maritime pressure around Taiwan.

The British Office Taipei, German Institute Taipei, and French Office in Taipei issued a joint statement on June 24 expressing concern over “novel Chinese activity” in waters east of Taiwan.

“These actions threaten regional stability and the freedom of navigation and safety of international shipping,” the three offices said.

Taiwanese National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu thanked Germany, France, and the UK for the joint statement, and also thanked the United States for separate support.

“Truly thankful to Germany, France & the UK for their joint statement, as well as to the USA for its separate support,” Wu wrote on X.

The Western statements concerned Chinese activity east of Taiwan, not the Fujian’s passage through the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan has said waters east of the island are not China’s and that Beijing has no right to claim jurisdiction there.

Beijing claims Taiwan as part of China and has not ruled out using force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.