Breaking the Chains: China's Historic Dual Carrier Deployment in the Western Pacific
In a significant demonstration of naval power projection, China has for the first time simultaneously deployed two aircraft carriers beyond Japan's Second Island Chain, marking a watershed moment in Beijing's maritime strategy and regional power dynamics. This unprecedented operation, involving the Liaoning and Shandong carrier strike groups, represents not merely a technical achievement but a strategic statement about China's evolving capabilities and ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Deployment: Scale and Significance
China's dual carrier operation, which began on June 10, 2025, has involved extensive flight operations in waters far beyond China's traditional areas of naval activity. The scale of these operations—520 takeoffs and landings over a nine-day period—demonstrates a level of carrier proficiency that signals China's rapid maturation as a blue-water naval power.
