China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier flotilla appeared to be on its way home, the Defense Ministry’s Joint Staff Office said Friday, after the ships were spotted entering the East China Sea following military exercises in the Pacific.
After a replenishment vessel joined the carrier group earlier in the week, defense officials had said it could stay in the area for up to a month.
Aircraft from the Liaoning carrier were involved in what Tokyo has criticized as a “dangerous” incident on Dec. 6 that saw Chinese military jets lock their radar on Air Self-Defense Force aircraft scrambled to monitor the vessels after they sailed between Okinawa’s main island and Miyako Island.
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