Kevin Buckland

TOKYO (Reuters – On Monday, eight Chinese naval vessels and an aircraft carrier passed between the islands of Japan’s south Okinawa chains, Japan’s defence ministry announced in a news release.

According to the ministry, several destroyers were part of the fleet that sailed between Miyakojima (on the Okinawa main island) and Okinawa. The ministry stated that helicopters aboard the Liaoning carrier flew and landed even though there wasn’t an intruder into Japan’s territorial waters.

China’s Defence Ministry didn’t respond to calls during national holidays.

U.S. 7th Fleet was part of Navy’s Pacific Force. They did not immediately reply to my request for comment. Taiwan’s Defence Ministry indicated that they would be monitoring the movements of this carrier group and described it as normal.

According to NHK, this was the first confirmation that an aircraft carrier from China had passed through the region since December 2013.