Taiwan is prepared

China sabre-rattling: how to sink aircraft carriers

China's aircraft carriers with redoubts are based on Soviet technology and resemble the Russian Admiral Kuznetsov. The Liaoning was once purchased semi-finished by the Ukraine and then finalized in China.(Bild: Xinhua News)

The sabre-rattling in the South China Sea is intensifying - and is unlikely to subside with Donald Trump's return as US President. China, which claims large areas of sea off the coasts of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines and dreams of reunification with the "renegade province" of Taiwan, has now sent two aircraft carriers out on a major exercise for the first time. But Taiwan is prepared.

China only has two operational aircraft carriers to date: the Liaoning, which was commissioned in 2012, and the Shandong aircraft carrier, which was added in 2019. They are Soviet technology: the Liaoning was initially called the Riga, then the Varyag - and was under construction in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. China bought the unfinished carrier from Ukraine at an auction via a camouflage company and later completed it. Subsequently, the Admiral Kuznetsov-class carrier also served as a model for the Liaoning. The Chinese carriers are each home to a squadron of J-15 fighter aircraft from Shenyang, which in turn are based on the Soviet Sukhoi Su-33 Flanker. A week ago, both aircraft carriers and a dozen escort ships left for an exercise. A demonstration of power in the direction of neighboring countries and Taiwan. But the democratically-run island republic has an antidote at the ready - years earlier than expected.