The Chinese government has published video footage and photos showing the Japanese aircraft carrier Izumo sailing very near to China’s People’s Army Navy’s flattop Liaoning and its escorts in some recent drills in the Pacific.
This follows after Japanese officials revealed plans to establish an emergency hotline for the military personnel in China to prevent potential changes in the near future.
JSDF has intercepted jet carrier Liaoning with 052D Destroyer, 054A frigate, and 901 replenishment ships. They were recorded traveling from the East China Sea, passing into the Western Pacific Ocean in Okinawa.
That fleet of Chinese then sailed into the southeast, where they carried out several routine drills with F-15 fighter jets along with helicopters. After finishing their business, they returned to the East China Sea on the 25th of December.
Japanese authorities have previously stated that Izumo and the destroyer Akizuki monitor Chinese activities. JSDF P-1 and P-3 maritime patrol planes have also been used to keep an eye on PLAN exercises as well as Japanese aircraft of fighter air were often scrambled to counter Chinese J-15s soaring from Liaoning. Video footage of the Japanese F-15J fighter plane catching up with Chinese J-15 footage, filmed from the cockpit of the second aircraft during the recent drills, is now public.
When Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning meets Japanese aircraft carrier Izumo.https://t.co/uH54TPVRvF
— Ryan Chan 陳家翹 (@ryankakiuchan) December 30, 2021
While it’s not sure what distance the Japanese carrier was close to one of the PLAN vessels, the spaces seem to be reasonably small for warships of this size. This kind of proximity might aid in understanding how Japanese forces were able to capture close-up photos of their Chinese counterparts operating across the Pacific included in earlier JSDF Joint Staff press releases.
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force has expanded the size and range of its work in recent times, such as participating in an increasing number of multinational naval and other types of exercises in the Pacific.
Aircraft carriers in Western Pacific. pic.twitter.com/YVNqWvFhX1
— Duan Dang (@duandang) December 23, 2021
This year, Izumo hosted U.S. Marine Corps F35Bs during a drill where fighter jets were flying from the Japanese transporter for the first time since World War II.
This is also happening amid extremely high tensions among Chinese and Japanese authorities. Remarkably, the administration in Japan under Prime Vice-Minister Fumio Kishida has taken an even more vocal policy in support of Taiwan. Japanese officials have stated that they favor a U.S.-led militarily-led response to any Chinese military intervention on the island and have expressed their displeasure with Beijing’s coercive approach to the authorities in Taipei.
Wow 😯 … a Japanese F-15J (?) photographed from within a J-15’s cockpit. https://t.co/ymVxEtPWhy
— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) December 30, 2021
This is a significant shift in Japanese policy, which has attracted criticism from government officials from Beijing who see Taiwan as a “rogue” state. Kishida also openly criticizes China’s crackdowns against activists for democracy and others within Hong Kong and ethnic Uighurs living in the western Xinjiang province. Japan and China continue to be in an ongoing, ferocious dispute over the control of the uninhabited islands and lie in between Taiwan and Okinawa.
Source: Thedrive
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