Chinese aircraft carrier enters the South China Sea.

A Chinese carrier strike group has just entered the South China Sea after passing south of Taiwan. Meanwhile, the US has passed a defense bill that mentions the possibility of high-level military exchanges with Taiwan.

Liaoning - China's first aircraft carrier.

Taiwan's defense ministry announced yesterday that the aircraft carrier Liaoning, escorted by five warships, had passed through the Pratas Islands, which Taiwan controls, heading southwest. Prior to that, the group of ships passed through the Bashi Channel, which lies between Taiwan and the Philippines. "Caution and flexibility are always the methods for maintaining air security," said Defense Ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi. However, Chen declined to answer whether the island's authorities had deployed fighter jets or submarines to monitor the aircraft.

Mr. Chen said that Taiwan is continuing to “monitor and assess the situation.” On December 26, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announced that Japan is also closely monitoring the Chinese aircraft carrier's exercises in the region, NHK reported. “This is the first time the Japan Self-Defense Forces have confirmed a Chinese aircraft carrier entering the Pacific Ocean. We are on high alert because this shows that the Chinese Navy has a stronger capability than before,” Suga said.

Taiwanese lawmaker Johny Chiang said that China's deployment of the Liaoning aircraft carrier for exercises was intended to signal to the US that it had broken the "first island chain," which includes Japan's Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that people shouldn't talk too much about the Liaoning because it was moving legally. "Our Liaoning needs to enjoy rights consistent with freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight as stipulated by international law, and we hope all parties respect this right of China," Hua said at a regular press briefing.

According to an editorial in the Global Times, a newspaper affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, this exercise shows that the aircraft carrier Liaoning is enhancing its combat capabilities and should venture into more distant waters. “The Chinese fleet will sooner or later arrive in the Eastern Pacific. When the Chinese aircraft carrier group appears off the coast of the United States someday, it will make people think more about the rules of navigation,” the editorial wrote.

Chinareaction to the US

China has just voiced its opposition to the US over President Barack Obama's signing of a US defense policy bill that includes plans for high-level military exchanges with Taiwan. A portion of the $618.7 billion National Defense Authorization Act reflects the US Congress's desire for the Pentagon to conduct a high-level military exchange program between the US and Taiwan. Previously, US President-elect Donald Trump made several moves that angered China, such as a phone call with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen and statements implying a possible abandonment of the "One China" policy.

On December 25, the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that parts of the US National Defense Authorization Act interfere with China's internal affairs and that China does not accept them. "We urge the US side to abide by its promises to China on the Taiwan issue, cease US-Taiwan military contacts, and stop selling weapons to Taiwan, in order to avoid harming Sino-US relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," the Chinese Foreign Ministry declared.

According to TPO