China Sends First 'Homemade' Aircraft Carrier to Contested South China Sea
China's first domestically produced aircraft carrier has held combat exercises in the South China Sea off the back of Beijing's public complaint about U.S. Navy reconnaissance operations in the region.
The Shandong carrier group departed its naval base in Sanya, in the southern province of Hainan, for its first deployment of the year just a few days after the country's first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, returned to home port in the East China Sea.
Shandong and its escorts held scheduled exercises at sea which were "completely legitimate and legal," said People's Liberation Army Navy spokesperson Gao Xiucheng. Gao said the drills were beneficial to China's ability to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests.
In the statement issued on Sunday, the spokesperson said external parties should "take an objective and rational view" of the carrier group's exercise, in an unusual reference likely aimed at pre-empting accusations of Chinese military muscle flexing.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-sends-first-homemade-aircraft-carrier-to-contested-south-china-sea/ar-BB1glzyr
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