US Satellites Capture Chinese Aircraft Carrier Preparing for War Games

American satellites have spotted a Chinese aircraft carrier transiting toward Taiwan as a report claimed that Beijing could conduct a military exercise around the self-ruled island.

An image captured by the Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 satellites, which are managed by NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS), shows CNS Liaoning underway in the East China Sea on Monday.

The Liaoning, the first of three aircraft carriers launched by Beijing, is homeported at Qingdao, a city in China’s eastern province of Shandong. It took part in a military exercise, code-named Joint Sword-2024B, near Taiwan in mid-October.

The latest intelligence assessments showed that the chances of China staging military drills this weekend were “high,” Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing Taipei-based security sources. Newsweek has emailed the Chinese Defense Ministry in Beijing for comment.

This came after the Chinese Communist Party, which views Taiwan as part of its territory despite never having governed it, condemned Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s stopovers in Hawaii and Guam during a tour of Taiwan’s allies in the Pacific Ocean.

The Chinese Defense Ministry has warned that it will “smash” any Taiwanese bid for formal independence. China has long refused to renounce the use of force against Taiwan, sending aircraft and warships near the island daily.

Lai, who asserted Taiwan is a sovereign, independent nation in his inauguration speech in May, is viewed by Beijing as a separatist. The U.S. recognizes Beijing as the only government of China but does not endorse its sovereignty claim over Taiwan.

Sun Li-fang, spokesperson for the Taiwanese Defense Ministry, said on Tuesday at a news briefing that the island’s military knew of the Liaoning’s position.

Reuters reported that the waters around Taiwan are busier than usual, with around 40 Chinese ships present, including a naval group led by the Liaoning in the East China Sea, a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean north of Taiwan.

While it would be “unusual” for China to hold military drills during winter, the Chinese military needs to conduct this kind of practice, ensuring it is able to launch an attack or an invasion against Taiwan “at any time of the year,” a source explained to Reuters.

China has conducted two large-scale military exercises around Taiwan so far this year. The first, Joint Sword-2024A, was held after Lai’s inauguration, with Joint Sword-2024B following in October.

Newsweek‘s review of satellite imagery shows that Chinese aircraft carrier CNS Shandong remained pierside at Sanya on China’s southern island of Hainan as of Monday.

The Liaoning and the Shandong took part in China’s first dual aircraft carrier operation in late October when they were underway together in the South China Sea. Afterward the Liaoning returned to Qingdao, concluding a deployment that began in September.

CNS Fujian—China’s third and most advanced aircraft carrier—was spotted arriving at Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard on Tuesday following its fifth sea trial in the Bohai Sea off eastern China. The yet-to-be-commissioned warship left the shipyard for testing in mid-November.