China is starting to flex its naval muscles seriously. Earlier this month the aircraft carrier Shandong, with a powerful escort group, left the South China Sea via the Bashi Channel and positioned herself on the Pacific side of Taiwan – such that the carrier and her aircraft could effectively cut the small democratic island off from outside support, had there been an active conflict underway.
The Shandong Carrier Strike Group (CSG) then spent 19 days steaming around in the neighbourhood of Taiwan, carrying out hundreds of flights by her embarked aircraft. Japan felt it necessary to scramble its fighters on several occasions – just as British and German jets have lately done to meet Russian probes above the Baltic – and both Japanese and Taiwanese warships carefully shadowed the dragon prowling in the Philippine Sea.
The Shandong CSG steamed back through the Bashi Channel on Monday and Taiwan was able to relax somewhat. But Xi Jinping had made his point. As and when China may decide to move against Taiwan, the increasingly powerful People’s Liberation Army (Navy), the PLAN, will stand between Taiwan and its allies out in the blue waters offshore.
But there’s no need to worry, surely? Taiwan’s friends include many powerful Western nations, Britain among them. The Royal Navy may no longer be its mighty former self, but it has two new aircraft carriers, HMSs Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales. The Shandong is, after all, only a Chinese copy of an old Russian ship: outmoded technology. Surely she could never be a match for the best of British?
In some ways this viewpoint is correct. The Shandong, a little smaller than our Queen Elizabeth class ships, is propelled by old-fashioned steam turbines rather than our modern gas-turbine electric transmission technology. Shandong can apparently steam at better than 30 knots, though, so our vessels have little if any advantage in speed. And at least the Shandong’s propulsion system actually works, unlike that of the unfortunate Prince of Wales, which broke down catastrophically last August. The crippled British carrier is not expected to return to sea until this autumn.
Still, though. The Shandong doesn’t have catapults like a proper carrier, which means she has to launch her jets under their own power off a “ski jump” ramp, which means she can only use specially-designed J-15 warplanes with somewhat limited capabilities. She does have arrester wires, though, and the J-15s have tail hooks, so they can get back on deck without dumping weapons into the sea. This is a vital capability for fighters launched on routine air-dominance patrols. But the Shandong and her J-15s are clearly no match for a catapult carrier able to launch fully capable warplanes.