Chinese expert plays down Japanese hype of aircraft carrier Fujian's voyage 200km away from China's Diaoyu Dao
Global Times
By Liu Xuanzun and Liang Rui Published: Sep 11, 2025 11:26 PM
Japan's Defense Ministry claimed that the Japanese side had for the first time spotted China's aircraft carrier Fujian when it sailed southwest some 200 kilometers northwest of China's Diaoyu Dao on Thursday. A Chinese expert played down the hype, saying that it is completely normal for Chinese warships to sail in those waters, and that the Fujian could be preparing for widely anticipated commissioning.
Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force on Thursday around 1 pm spotted the aircraft carrier Fujian, a Sovremenny-class destroyer and a Type 052C destroyer of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy sailing southwest some 200 kilometers northwest of China's Diaoyu Dao, according to a release by Japan's Ministry of Defense Joint staff.
It was the first time that Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force had spotted the aircraft carrier Fujian, the Japanese release said.
A map attached to the Japanese release marked that the three Chinese warships sailed in the East China Sea and headed toward the Taiwan Straits on Thursday.
Shanghai's Maritime Safety Administration issued a navigation restriction notice on Monday, stating that traffic control would be implemented in the Yangtze River estuary due to the passage of a large vessel on Wednesday. This phrasing has been frequently used when the aircraft carrier Fujian departed from its shipyard in Shanghai for sea trials on previous occasions.
After the launch of the Fujian on June 17, 2022, it carried out its first sea trial from May 1 to 8 in 2024. Since then, the Fujian has completed multiple sea trials, according to official media reports.
The aircraft carrier Fujian is on the final stretch before its commissioning, China Central Television (CCTV) News reported in August.
With a full displacement of more than 80,000 tons, the Fujian is the China's first aircraft carrier to feature electromagnetic launch and arresting technologies, according to Xinhua.
Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times that the Fujian's commissioning is expected to take place within 2025.
Back in November 17, 2019, China's second aircraft carrier, which was not commissioned by that time, made a transit in the Taiwan Straits from north toward south, Taiwan region's defense authority claimed at the time. The carrier, which was built in Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, was later delivered to the PLA Navy as the aircraft carrier Shandong in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province on December 17, 2019.
Fu said that he hopes to see that the Fujian on a voyage in preparation for its upcoming commissioning.
Chinese warplanes and aircraft regularly conduct activities in these waters, and there is no need for over-interpretation. Only those with ill intentions would feel nervous, Fu said.
In response to China's second aircraft carrier's Taiwan Straits transit in 2019, Ren Guoqiang, then spokesperson at China's Ministry of National Defense, said at a regular press conference in November 2019 that organizing aircraft carrier to conduct cross-regional maneuvers is a normal part of the aircraft carrier construction process. Similar routine exercises will continue to be organized as planned in the future.
On Japanese side's claims about Chinese aircraft carrier's activities near Japan, Wu Qian, then spokesperson at China's Ministry of National Defense, said at a regular press conference in December 2024 that Japan's hype over the so-called "China military threat" rhetoric is nothing but a trick to cover up its attempt to break the shackles of its pacifist constitution and return to its old path of military expansion. In fact, diplomatic and defense departments of China and Japan have maintained communication on maritime and aerial security issues. It is totally unnecessary for Japan to be so sensitive and jittery.
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