Liaoning carrier: the steady pattern of China’s first aircraft carrier in the Pacific, as logged by Japan

For the second time in 2026, the Liaoning, the first aircraft carrier acquired by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, operated in the Pacific, this time passing between Okinawa and Miyako. Japanese records from May and October, laid side by side, show a repetition that experts now describe as an organised training programme far from Chinese shores.

The latest sortie was first recorded on Tuesday, October 13. Around 11:00 the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force spotted the Liaoning (hull number 16) about 390 km south-west of the Danjo Islands, together with two Type 055 Renhai guided-missile destroyers (103 and 104) and one Type 052D Luyang III (123). The next day the group entered the Pacific and, the same day, fighters were recorded taking off and landing from the deck some 250 km south of Ishigaki. The movements were recorded and published by Japan’s Joint Staff Office. The Air Self-Defense Force scrambled fighters. In a second briefing, Tokyo counted about 10 take-offs and landings of fighters and helicopters, while on October 15 the four ships were heading toward the South China Sea.

May: a much heavier tempo

The May picture was far more intense. From the 26th to the 28th of the month, the Japanese counted about 170 take-offs and landings: roughly 80 on the first day, 50 on the second and 40 on the third. The carrier then moved from about 1,090 km south-west of Okinotori to 590 km south-west of Miyako, escorted by destroyers, a Jiangkai III frigate and the fast combat support ship 901. On May 29 it passed east of the Philippines and returned to the East China Sea through the same passage on June 20, according to a later Japanese announcement.

Beijing, through the Xinhua agency, described the October sortie as part of an annual training programme aimed at “testing and improving combat readiness”, stressing that the activity “is not directed against any specific country or target”. Global Times spoke of the ship’s second outing to the “far seas” and a path from “coastal pioneer” to “blade of the distant seas”.

A test platform for newer carriers

Analysts who spoke to Defense News consider the oldest of China’s three carriers, with at least six far-seas deployments in the 14 years since its completion, to now operate as a test platform for the newer ones. “The current voyage appears to be part of an established, evolving pattern of far-seas training missions,” said Professor Carl Thayer of the University of New South Wales. Collin Koh of Singapore’s Nanyang University estimates that the mission may have served to validate technologies, noting that the Shandong is essentially an improved version of the Liaoning. Alexander Huang, in Taipei, believes that in a crisis the Liaoning would not be the front-line force.

The Liaoning is a STOBAR-class carrier: aircraft take off from a ski-jump ramp without a catapult and land using arresting wires. It is about 305 metres long with a flight deck up to 75 metres wide. An analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute noted that flight operations inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone are considered “unusual”.

The timing did not go unnoticed. The Chinese group moved a few days before the start, on October 19, of the Japan–US exercise Keen Sword 27, which includes Ishigaki and Philippine participation. Taiwan’s defence ministry said in mid-month that it is watching for the possibility of large-scale Chinese exercises to follow. By October 23, according to regional reports, the group was heading to the South China Sea, near the Philippines.