Japan strengthens defense after Liaoning aircraft carrier passage

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has acknowledged that Japan’s monitoring capabilities were limited during the recent passage of the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning near Okinawa. The naval group, which included three missile destroyers, conducted maneuvers in the Western Pacific, including approximately ten takeoff and landing operations by embarked aircraft near Ishigaki.

The Liaoning group was spotted near Nagasaki before transiting the passage between Okinawa and Miyako to enter the Pacific. While the maneuvers occurred within Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the Japanese government has characterized the need to strengthen Pacific-side defenses, specifically in surveillance and information gathering, as an “urgent task.”

In response to the movement, the Japan Self-Defense Forces deployed a destroyer, the Yugiri, along with patrol aircraft and fighter jets to monitor the group. The Liaoning subsequently entered the South China Sea. This incident occurs as Japan reviews its three core defense strategy documents, with a new version expected by the end of the year.