Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
aims to alert you to the threats and opportunities that China and India present. China and India require serious attention; case of ‘hidden dragon and crouching tiger’.
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Warship joined by at least five escort vessels and analysts say the drills were ‘very significant’ to show the strike group wasn’t hit by coronavirus
Latest exercises also seen as putting pressure on Taiwan’s pro-independence forces, with strike group sailing through the strait
The Liaoning is seen as having a big role in the Chinese military’s plan to unify Taiwan by force. Photo: AFP
China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, returned to its home port of Qingdao on Thursday after nearly a month of training on the high seas, the People’s Liberation Army said.
According to military analysts, the warship was joined by at least five escort vessels, and the drills showed its crew had not been affected by the coronavirus pandemic and that it remained combat-ready.
The annual cross-region drills included intensive and complicated air and sea operations, the official PLA Daily said in a post on social media on Friday.
“The drills have further improved the real combat training level of the Liaoning carrier strike group, putting its systematic combat capability to the test,” the statement on WeChat said, without giving other details.
It was the longest training session by China’s navy since the PLA resumed all large-scale drills in March, after they were suspended because of disruptions to transport and military resources across the country as the deadly new virus rapidly spread.
Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie said it was important for the carrier to get back to training activities.
“The recent training by the Liaoning carrier strike group is very significant because it’s evidence that none of the 2,000 sailors and commanders on the ship have been hit by Covid-19, and neither have any of the other soldiers and personnel on the other warships and support units,” Li said.
The coronavirus situation has eased in China, where the first cases were reported late last year, but it continues to spread across the globe and has infected more than 3.2 million people worldwide and killed over 233,000.
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The virus has also hit crew members on at least 40 US Navy warships, and Li said that left China with the only operational aircraft carrier in the region.
“Since the four American aircraft carriers in the Indo-Pacific region have all been struck by the pandemic, China is the only country that can operate an aircraft carrier in the area,” he said.
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Taiwan’s defence ministry reported earlier that the Liaoning flotilla had sailed through the Taiwan Strait twice last month as it headed towards the western Pacific, prompting the self-ruled island to scramble aircraft and send warships to monitor its movements.
Japan’s Ministry of Defence said the Liaoning was escorted by two destroyers, two frigates and a supply ship, and they had passed through the Bashi Channel, a waterway to the south of Taiwan, and headed towards waters east of Taiwan.
As tensions continue to simmer between Taipei and Beijing, the PLA has stepped up activities around the island, which the mainland sees as part of its territory awaiting reunification.
Hong Kong-based military commentator Song Zhongping said the latest naval drills were also aimed at heaping more pressure on Taiwan’s pro-independence forces as well as foreign countries seeking to intervene in cross-strait issues.
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“Taiwan’s pro-independence forces have become more active and are attempting to take advantage amid the pandemic,” said Song, a military commentator with Phoenix Television.
“The Liaoning would play a major role in the PLA’s plan to unify Taiwan by force, so it’s necessary for the aircraft carrier strike group to get back to operations, step up training and send a warning to Taipei,” he added.
Lu Li-Shih, a former instructor at the naval academy in Taiwan, noted that the PLA Navy had regularly held drills in the waters east of Taiwan in recent years to avoid surveillance by US satellites.
The country’s second aircraft carrier, the Shandong, officially entered service this month, but bottlenecks in training could hamper the navy’s effectiveness
Plans to build and launch more modern warships mean the need for fully trained pilots will only grow
A pilot based on the Liaoning is seen during a training exercise. China is facing a shortage of trained naval aviators. Photo: Handout
A shortage of naval pilots is holding back Beijing’s ambitions to develop a truly combat-ready fleet, military analysts have said.
China officially commissioned its second aircraft carrier the Shandong last week, which means it will need at least 70 pilots, along with more supporting flight officers.
However, plans to further expand its fleet to five or six carriers – as well as the more advanced technology that will be used on these vessels – mean the need to train more pilots will become more urgent in the future.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has initiated a sweeping modernisation drive across all branches of the People’s Liberation Army and said “the need to build up a strong navy has never been more pressing”.
The Shandong, China’s second carrier, officially entered service earlier this month. Photo: Handout
But Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, said there was a bottleneck in the recruitment and training of naval pilots.
“The implications of carrier-borne aviation are still relatively unfamiliar to the PLA, especially when there’s an urge to scale up training tempo and recruitment in order to fulfil the top directives of building a viable carrier programme,” he said.
China’s training programme for all military pilots is still developing – particularly when it comes to the naval aviation arm, which was only founded in May 2013.
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China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was commissioned in September 2012, but the first successful fighter landing on the ship did not happen until two months later.
The first successful night landing was not reported by state media until May 2018, almost four years later.
It appears to have taken even longer to fully train helicopter pilots, with the first successful day landing taking place in November 2018, according to China’s Naval Aviation University, and the first night landing in June this year.
The training programme has also been marred by a string of fatal accidents along the way, although Koh said these had been unreported to avoid deterring prospective recruits.
Days after China marked the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic with a huge military parade in Beijing on October 1, three airmen were killed when a transport helicopter crashed in central Henan province.
Just eight days later there was another crash on the Tibetan Plateau, where a J-10 fighter jet on a low-altitude flying drill crashed into a mountain. The pilot was reported to have survived.
“The attrition rate of carrier-borne pilot training, including those who might have been injured or killed in the line of duty, isn’t that well publicised by the PLA,” said Koh.
Fighters on the deck of the Liaoning, China’s first carrier. Photo: Xinhua
Li Jie, another Beijing-based military expert, said although the navy is short of pilots now, the problem could be solved within two to three years.
“The insufficient number of carrier-borne warplanes and the substantial training needed for a qualified naval pilot are the two main reasons why China is so short of pilots now. But as China places more and more emphasis on the education and training of the pilots, the problem will be gradually ironed out, ” said Li.
First made-in-China carrier officially enters service
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The Naval Aviation University, which is responsible for the training of future naval pilots, has been working with three of the country’s leading universities – Peking, Tsinghua and Beihang – to identify and recruit future pilots.
The authorities have also set up Naval Aviation Experimental Classes in high schools across the country. Each class recruits 50 students, who enjoy a national subsidy and will be put in a priority list to be admitted as a naval pilot.
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 
China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier returns home from a month of training
China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, returned to its home port of Qingdao on Thursday after nearly a month of training on the high seas, the People’s Liberation Army said.
According to military analysts, the warship was joined by at least five escort vessels, and the drills showed its crew had not been affected by the coronavirus pandemic and that it remained combat-ready.
The annual cross-region drills included intensive and complicated air and sea operations, the official PLA Daily said in a post on social media on Friday.
“The drills have further improved the real combat training level of the Liaoning carrier strike group, putting its systematic combat capability to the test,” the statement on WeChat said, without giving other details.
Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie said it was important for the carrier to get back to training activities.
“The recent training by the Liaoning carrier strike group is very significant because it’s evidence that none of the 2,000 sailors and commanders on the ship have been hit by Covid-19, and neither have any of the other soldiers and personnel on the other warships and support units,” Li said.
The coronavirus situation has eased in China, where the first cases were reported late last year, but it continues to spread across the globe and has infected more than 3.2 million people worldwide and killed over 233,000.
Sailors on warships like USS Theodore Roosevelt vulnerable as coronavirus spreads
The virus has also hit crew members on at least 40 US Navy warships, and Li said that left China with the only operational aircraft carrier in the region.
“Since the four American aircraft carriers in the Indo-Pacific region have all been struck by the pandemic, China is the only country that can operate an aircraft carrier in the area,” he said.
Japan’s Ministry of Defence said the Liaoning was escorted by two destroyers, two frigates and a supply ship, and they had passed through the Bashi Channel, a waterway to the south of Taiwan, and headed towards waters east of Taiwan.
As tensions continue to simmer between Taipei and Beijing, the PLA has stepped up activities around the island, which the mainland sees as part of its territory awaiting reunification.
Hong Kong-based military commentator Song Zhongping said the latest naval drills were also aimed at heaping more pressure on Taiwan’s pro-independence forces as well as foreign countries seeking to intervene in cross-strait issues.
Coronavirus: US ‘supports Taiwan joining WHO events’ in ministerial phone call
“Taiwan’s pro-independence forces have become more active and are attempting to take advantage amid the pandemic,” said Song, a military commentator with Phoenix Television.
“The Liaoning would play a major role in the PLA’s plan to unify Taiwan by force, so it’s necessary for the aircraft carrier strike group to get back to operations, step up training and send a warning to Taipei,” he added.
Lu Li-Shih, a former instructor at the naval academy in Taiwan, noted that the PLA Navy had regularly held drills in the waters east of Taiwan in recent years to avoid surveillance by US satellites.
Source: SCMP
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