Taiwan Says China Is Running 'Area Denial' Drills in the Western Pacific With Carrier Liaoning

China is carrying out "area denial" drills in the Western Pacific involving the aircraft carrier Liaoning and other naval formations, Taiwan's Defence Minister Wellington Koo told reporters at parliament on Tuesday, November 10.

Area denial means trying to keep an opponent's forces out of a region. In a conflict over Taiwan, the Western Pacific east of the island is where US and allied forces would be expected to come from, which is why drills there draw close attention in Taipei, Tokyo and Washington.

A J-15 fighter launches from the carrier Liaoning in 2022. File photo: Japan Ministry of Defense Joint Staff Office, CC BY 4.0.

More than 100 ships

Taiwan's National Security Council secretary-general said more than 100 Chinese navy and coast guard ships were operating off Taiwan, in the South China Sea and out into the Pacific. Taiwan's defence ministry also reported a rise in Chinese military aircraft around the island.

Beijing has not publicly announced any drills. China's defence ministry has previously described the Liaoning's training in the Western Pacific as an annual routine to test long-range, open-ocean combat skills, not aimed at any country.

The Liaoning group was already active in the Philippine Sea in mid-October with two cruisers and a destroyer, according to USNI News.

Why the timing matters

The activity comes ahead of the APEC summit in Shenzhen next week, where US President Donald Trump is expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and before Taiwan's local elections at the end of November.

The Liaoning, a refitted Soviet-era hull, was China's first aircraft carrier and has regularly sailed past Japan's southwestern islands into the Pacific in recent years, often tracked and photographed by Japan's military.

The carrier Liaoning in the western Pacific near Taiwan, April 2018. File photo: Japan Ministry of Defense Joint Staff Office, CC BY 4.0.