Chairman Xi Jinping has deployed two new aircraft carriers in a move designed to stoke tensions with the US and ultimately, Australia.
But the planned course of the Chinese aircraft carriers has raised eyebrows.
The Pratas is a South China Sea group of atolls controlled by Taiwan. Sending major warships through their waters would be significant intimidation by Beijing. The territorial ‘bubble’ offered by the Taiwanese islands has also been exploited by the US in recent weeks, with some 13 flights by intelligence-gathering aircraft over the area to monitor nearby Chinese activity.
“There are just 200 Taiwanese troops stationed on the Pratas, so it doesn’t make sense for the PLA to deploy an aircraft carrier strike group to take such a small island,” the Japanese defence official said.that the exercise was instead part of an overall scheme to militarise the East and South China Sea region.
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