The PLAN is expected to have six carriers on active duty by 2035.

Additionally, there are speculations that the fourth Type 004 carrier, supposedly under construction, will feature nuclear propulsion. That advancement would transform the nation’s navy to a genuine blue-water navy, enabling Beijing to access distant oceans.

Military experts suggest that the frequent deployments of Chinese carriers are intended to strengthen China’s influence in a region characterized by multiple territorial conflicts with neighboring countries. A prominent illustration of this is the South China Sea, where tensions have recently escalated between China and the Philippines, a US ally.

Interestingly, there is an indication that the Liaoning aircraft carrier and the US Navy’s USS Theodore Roosevelt were operating in or around the Philippines Sea recently as the US carrier left port in the Middle East and entered the region for its scheduled deployment.

Chinese & US Carriers Operating Close To The Philippines

On September 23, Ellis published another infographic suggesting that the Liaoning and the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike groups were “converging & operating in a similar area east of the Philippines.” The data was based on satellite imagery sourced from OSINT researcher @MT_Anderson on X.

After eight months of deployment, the USS Theodore Roosevelt left the Middle East on September 12.

“Following a period of dual carrier coverage by the Theodore Roosevelt, CSG, and the Abraham Lincoln, CSG in the CENTCOM region, Theodore Roosevelt has departed and begun its transit into the Indo-Pacific command area of operations,” Maj Gen. Pat Ryder said.

The deployment of USS Theodore Roosevelt to the region came following discussions about the US Navy’s carrier shortage, particularly highlighted by the absence of a US carrier in the Indo-Pacific at the end of last month. The Seventh Fleet of the US Navy was left without a carrier when the USS Abraham Lincoln was reassigned to the Fifth Fleet.

About a month ago, military observers lamented the absence of a carrier as it coincided with rising tensions between China and the Philippines and enhanced military activity by the Chinese forces in the Taiwan Strait. The United States relies heavily on aircraft carriers to project power and implement its foreign policy, considering them a crucial component of its national security strategy.

However, the close operation of US and Chinese carriers near the Philippines is also highly symbolic, as it happened in the wake of China’s sustained hostility against Manila.

China claims the entire South China Sea as its sovereign territory, making the region a major flashpoint. In recent times, there have been numerous conflicts between China and the Philippines, with the Chinese Coast Guard ships ramming, obstructing, and firing water cannons at Philippine vessels.

China’s deployment of an aircraft carrier near the Philippines has been perceived as a warning to the country and its allies in the region.

The PLAN sees its expanding carrier fleet as a tool for projecting power beyond China’s shores. This includes the crucial First Island Chain, which is made up of archipelagos that border mainland East Asia and stretch from the southernmost point of the Japanese islands to the South China Sea, and the Second Island Chain, which stretches farther into the Western Pacific and includes Guam and other U.S. island territories in the Marianas.

China’s aircraft carriers are fueling those ambitions, and analysts believe that we can expect more simultaneous carrier deployments by the PLAN in the future.