TAIPEI—A Chinese naval flotilla led by the country’s first aircraft carrier passed by the eastern and southern coasts of Taiwan on April 12 to carry out drills, the island’s defense ministry said, in the latest uptick in military tensions.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said the Liaoning, China’s first operational aircraft carrier, and five accompanying warships passed first through the Miyako Strait, located between Japan’s islands of Miyako and Okinawa, to the northeast of Taiwan, on Saturday.
On Sunday, the carrier group sailed in waters on Taiwan’s east coast and then into seas to the south of Taiwan, carrying out exercises, the ministry added in a statement.

Taiwan’s armed forces monitored the carrier group’s progress throughout and “completed relevant actions in response to ensure national security and protect regional peace and stability,” it added, without elaborating.
Taiwan typically scrambles fighter jets in response to Chinese maneuvers.
There was no immediate response from China’s Defense Ministry.
China’s two aircraft carriers are no strangers to the waters around Taiwan.
