China’s newest generation frigate, the Type 054B, has for the first time been confirmed operating as part of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) aircraft carrier Liaoning’s strike group in the Western Pacific, marking another milestone in Beijing’s accelerating blue-water naval ambitions.
Japan’s Ministry of Defense announced on May 26 that the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) had monitored the Chinese carrier Liaoning and four accompanying warships sailing about 880 kilometers southwest of Okinotorishima, the southernmost island in Japan, on May 25. The following day, Japanese forces also confirmed repeated takeoffs and landings of carrier-based fighter jets and helicopters from the Liaoning.
The deployment itself was not unusual. In recent years, the PLAN has increasingly normalized carrier operations beyond the so-called First Island Chain, stretching from Japan through Taiwan to the Philippines, as part of its broader push toward sustained blue-water operations in the Western Pacific. Chinese carriers have also begun operating beyond the Second Island Chain, although such deployments still remain rare. What drew particular attention this time, however, was the presence of the PLAN’s newest frigate class, the Type 054B, known by NATO as the Jiangkai III-class.
