China‘s secretive $9 billion warship has been spotted in Pacific ocean from space amid fears of WWIII.
The CNS Liaoning, which is the nation’s first operational aircraft carrier, was captured by NASA‘s Landsat 8 satellite as it was docked in the Bohai Sea and conducted sea trials.
The satellite images showed the Liaoning warship docked among other aircraft carriers at a shipyard, while a separate image showed moving out to sea.
US Navy officials have been monitoring the warship, finding its deck measures about 656 feet long and 131 feet wide, making it smaller than other Chinese carriers.
The images were taken days after US President Biden allowed Ukraine to use American missiles to strike China’s ally Russia, which has led to fears that a worldwide war is on the horizon.
China has become Russia’s largest trading partner following Western sanctions and now enjoys huge discounts on energy exports while supplying essential technology and consumer goods.
And in September, reports surfaced that the two nations were ramping up joint military drills.
The Chinese military has more than 370 warships and submarines in its fleet, making it the largest naval force created worldwide, and has worked to rapidly increase its fleet while keeping up with US carrier technology.
CNS Liaoning was operating near Japan last year, strapped with guided-missile cruisers and a guided-missile destroyer, when it conducted flight operations with about 20 launches and recoveries of fighters .
Reports also claimed there were around 40 take-offs and landings of helicopters from the carrier.
More recently, from September 20 to October 1, the CNS Liaoning performed flight operations with carrier-based fighter jets and helicopters in the waters east of the Philippines and west of Guam.
It is unclear what trials were be conducted this week.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy also deployed its CNS Shandong aircraft carrier last week, which sailed into the South China Sea about 397 miles south of Miyako Island, according to the US Naval Institute.
The vessel was monitored using satellite imagery and was reported to have conducted 10 launches and 10 helicopter take-offs and landings.
The US has deployed its own fleet of warships to the northwest coast of Luzon to watch China’s ongoing operations and reported that the Liberation Army could be readying itself to attack Japan.
China’s tensions with Japan has continued to grow due to concerns over its close relationship with the US.
The Chinese government has also claimed that Taiwan is its own territory, although the country has not outright stated that it plans to invade Japan.
Earlier this month, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is grateful that the US is deploying ships to the region as reports of China’s warships increase.
The press release stated: ‘As the security environment in the region becomes increasingly severe, maintaining a robust presence of the U.S. Navy through the forward-deployment of USS George Washington and the Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 is essential to the security of Japan and the maintenance of regional peace and stability.’
