The picture shows aircraft carrier Shandong berths at a naval port in Sanya. China's first domestically-made aircraft carrier Shandong (Hull 17) was officially commissioned to the PLA Navy at a military port in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, on the afternoon of December 17, 2019, making China one of the few countries in the world that have multiple carriers. Photo:China Military

The aircraft carrier Shandong of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy reportedly started its first exercise in the West Pacific on Wednesday after sailing past the island of Taiwan, breaking the first island chain, with analysts saying that the voyage shows the PLA Navy's second aircraft carrier is fully ready for far sea operations and safeguarding China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The defense authority on the island of Taiwan spotted the PLA Navy's Shandong aircraft carrier group when the flotilla sailed through the Bashi Channel and past the waters southeast of the island of Taiwan, as it started its first exercise in the West Pacific, media on the island of Taiwan reported on Wednesday, citing a statement from the defense authority on the island.

The Shandong is China's second aircraft carrier, also the first one fully domestically built. The vessel was commissioned into the PLA Navy on December 17, 2019 in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province.

Having obtained its combat training certificate last year after intensive training exercises, the Shandong achieved operational capability on schedule and was expected to hold its far sea exercises beyond the first island chain, taking turns with the PLA Navy's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which had hosted several intensive fighter jet drills in the West Pacific to the east of the island of Taiwan and south of Japan over the past few years. The Liaoning is now undergoing maintenance.

It is a normal development that Chinese aircraft carrier groups including the Shandong conduct exercises beyond the first island chain, because only in the far sea can carrier group's advantages be fully brought into play, Zhang Xuefeng, a Chinese mainland military expert, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Carrier groups should train in locations where battles would be fought, so they can familiarize themselves with the preset maritime battlefield environment, and hone the sailors' combat capabilities and psychological qualities, Zhang said.

The West Pacific waters to the east of the island of Taiwan and south of Japan is a strategically vital position to surround the island of Taiwan and deny foreign forces from interfering in the Taiwan question militarily, and that is why the PLA Navy has been sending its aircraft carriers to hold drills in this region, a Beijing-based military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The Shandong's voyage comes at a time when Taiwan regional leader Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are reportedly scheduled to meet in California on Wednesday, and the Chinese mainland vowed to resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Experts expect the PLA to take countermeasures, including by holding large-scale and long-lasting drills around the island of Taiwan, and push forward the progress of national reunification should Tsai and McCarthy meet.