China’s largest ever naval manoeuvres in the disputed South China Sea were a routine training exercise, the defence ministry said in its first comments about a deployment of 40 warships carried out this week.
The ships included China’s only operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, accompanied by dozens of other vessels sailing south of the Chinese island province of Hainan. They were recorded by satellite images first published on Monday.
Analysts said the exercises sent a message to western navies to steer clear of the South China Sea. China claims about 85 per cent of the disputed sea and has built a half-dozen artificial islands to buttress its assertion.
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