Chinese Carrier Shandong Moors In Hong Kong On 'Great Power' Visit
The Shandong, measuring more than 300 metres (1,000 feet) and commissioned in 2019, is China's second carrier and is central to its regional ambitions under President Xi Jinping, who has overseen a massive naval buildup that has rattled Asian neighbours.
Beijing has said the Shandong and its escort vessels, which include the destroyers Zhanjiang and Yanan and the frigate Yuncheng, will visit the Chinese finance hub for five days and host "tours and cultural exchange activities".
The Shandong's visit came days after it concluded combat drills in the western Pacific alongside China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning.
It anchored at the western edge of Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour while the escorts berthed at the People's Liberation Army naval base on Stonecutters Island on the northern side of the famous waterway.
City leader John Lee said at a welcoming ceremony that the visit would let the public "experience the magnificence and sophistication of the country's modern warships".
The PLA navy "not only protects national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, but is also an important force for regional peace and stability," Lee said.
The Shandong and the Liaoning are both of a modified Soviet design, with J-15 fighter jets and helicopters seen on the Shandong's distinctive "ski jump" deck on Thursday.
China's third and more advanced carrier, the Fujian, is undergoing sea trials.
Tickets to visit the vessels in Hong Kong were snapped up within minutes on social media app WeChat.
Crowds flocked to the waterfront and nearby hillsides on Thursday morning to catch a glimpse of the vessels.
City officials set up a restricted flying zone over parts of the harbour and temporarily reduced ferry services.
The Shandong is the second Chinese aircraft carrier to visit Hong Kong, following a 2017 visit by the Liaoning.
"The idea appears to be to impress upon the Hong Kong public... the ruling (Chinese Communist Party's) quest for building what's termed as the status of a maritime great power," said Collin Koh, a naval affairs specialist at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
China has rapidly upgraded its naval forces as it seeks to expand its reach in the Pacific and challenge a US-led alliance.
The US Department of Defense said in a December report that China numerically has the largest navy in the world, with a battle force of more than 370 ships and submarines.
Japanese authorities said China's dual-carrier exercise in the Pacific last month was the first of its kind and reflected Beijing's intentions to improve operational capabilities in distant areas.
Chong Ja Ian of the National University of Singapore said China's latest exercises suggest "both aircraft carriers are ready to engage in more sophisticated operations" but some unknowns remain, including the operational tempo they can bear.
The Shandong was reportedly present in Philippine waters in April during a joint US-Philippines military exercise, deepening tensions between Manila and Beijing over disputed territorial claims in the South China Sea.
In that same month, the vessel also took part in drills testing the Chinese navy's ability to "blockade" Taiwan, according to the Eastern Theater Command.
China insists that the self-ruled democracy is part of its territory and has refused to rule out seizing the island by force. China's first domestically built aircraft carrier the Shandong arrived in Hong Kong on a five-day visit AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
DW
4 hours ago
- DW
Can BRICS project unity amid global tensions? – DW – 07/04/2025
The influence of BRICS, a global forum championed by China, Russia, and India, is on the rise. Still, even its major members have to negotiate internal conflicts amid challenges posed by the Trump administration. A two-day summit of the BRICS grouping of emerging economies starts Sunday in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro, as the global forum seeks to build consensus and cohesion after the group expanded over the past two years. BRICS styles itself as a counterweight to western multilateral institutions like the G7, and describes its role as a "political and diplomatic coordination forum" for countries of the Global South. Brazil, which holds the grouping's rotating presidency, is focusing the Rio summit on strengthening Global South cooperation for more inclusive governance. In the run-up to the official conference, negotiators from member states have met to find common ground that will shape discussions on issues like access to vaccines, disease prevention, ethical implementation of artificial intelligence and enabling Global South action on climate change. The leaders of Russia and China, two of the grouping's key members, will not travel to Brazil to attend the 17th BRICS summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely skipping the summit to avoid an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for war crimes. Russia has said Putin will join via video link. Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend a BRICS summit for the first time since he became China's leader in 2012. His absence is more of a mystery. China's Foreign Ministry said Premier Li Qiang would represent China, and did not provide a reason as to why Xi is staying behind. The , which first broke news of Xi's absence, cited unnamed Chinese officials that Xi had a "scheduling conflict" and had met Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva twice in the past year. The report included that an exclusive invitation to a state dinner from da Silva to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would also have been bad imaging for Xi. Another possible source of tension is Brazil's decision to not join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Beijing's keystone global infrastructure financing scheme. China has positioned itself as the vanguard of BRICS expansion and ambition, but Xi's absence at the Brazil summit gives India's Modi the opportunity to take center stage. India is due to take up the BRICS presidency in 2026, and New Delhi is eager to expand on its global diplomatic outreach. Modi's appearance in Brazil is part of a five-nation tour, his longest diplomatic circuit in 10 years, which also includes Trinidad & Tobago, Argentina, and two African countries, Namibia and Ghana. BRICS is a forum where both the Chinese and Indians have been "trying to come to terms with who is a better spokesperson for the Global South," Harsh V. Pant, head of the Strategic Studies Program at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), a New Delhi-based think tank, told DW. The summit "might give Modi the opportunity to amplify that part of India's foreign policy agenda" and Xi's absence "certainly gives him more space to maneuver," he said. "When BRICS started, it was about emerging powers trying to retain space in the global multilateral economic order. There was an unease with Western dominance of global economic institutions, and India wanted to work with emerging powers. At that point, India believed there was space to work with Russia to balance China. Today, those considerations are up in the air," Pant added. BRICS, originally called "BRIC" after founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China, eventually added an "S" with South Africa in 2010. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates joined in 2024, but the acronym remained the same. Indonesia officially joined earlier this year, bringing the membership to 10 countries. Saudi Arabia has been invited to join, but has held off on formalizing membership. Dozens of other countries have shown interest. Statistically, BRICS countries comprise 40% of the global population, and the share of global GDP at purchasing power parity comes in at more than 35%. However, the grouping has so far found it difficult to turn that potential clout into a viable alternative to Western-led multilateral institutions. Fundamentally, BRICS is more of a loose grouping than a bloc like the EU, or an alliance like NATO. And with more members, finding consensus becomes more complicated. One of BRICS most ambitious undertakings has been the New Development Bank (NBD), a development financing institution founded in 2015 as an alternative to institutions like the World Bank, which Global South countries believe is failing to meet their needs. The NBD has seen some success in funding infrastructure projects in developing countries using local currencies. BRICS is now seeking to build on that track record. A press release from Brazil said the 2025 summit will seek consensus on making the NBD the "main financing agent for industrialization in the Global South." However, the NBD's smaller size makes it unlikely to emerge as a challenger to the World Bank and the global financial system. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Other ideas like a common BRICS currency to counter the US dollar have fallen flat, partly due to China's economic dominance, which would give it an outsized weight over other members. Moreover, internal disagreement persists over issues like Russia's war in Ukraine. A key narrative used to promote BRICS was based on an appeal to legitimizing principles, like the idea of national sovereignty, and non-intervention of countries in another's domestic affairs. "The problem is that you have Russia there, which is now challenging the sovereignty of other countries. You have China there, which is challenging the sovereignty of India and of several other countries in the maritime space," said ORF's Pant. Geopolitical tensions between China and India include a border dispute and China's support for Pakistan during the recent skirmish between Islamabad and New Delhi. There are "divergences between India and China that are quite significant,"Pant said. "China remains uncomfortable with wider issues about India's rise and role in the global hierarchy," according to the Indian expert. BRICS has also notably failed to muster a common response on the string of geopolitical and economic challenges coming from the US, including Donald Trump's threat of tariffs. When Iran, a member of BRICS, was bombed by the US, BRICS members issued a strongly worded joint statement expressing "serious concern" over attacks against "peaceful nuclear installations." But fellow BRICS members Russia and China, which both have partnership agreements with Iran, did not take any substantive action on Tehran's behalf. On Trump's blanket tariffs, BRICS was absent as a cohesive front for negotiation, despite its massive GDP size on paper. "By and large we've seen a very pragmatic approach by all of these countries in engaging with the Trump administration rather than putting up a fight on some grand principles," Pant said. "If you look at the rhetoric and you look at the actual realities on the ground, both the Russians and Chinese at this point are more interested in cutting bilateral deals with Trump. Russians are working with Trump on security architecture in Europe, China is working on a trade deal. Indians are also interested in a bilateral trade deal with the US." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "On substance, there is not much there as an example of countries that have the potential to push back against the US, because all of them are cutting bilateral deals," he added.
Int'l Business Times
8 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
China To Require EU Brandy Exporters To Raise Prices Or Face Tariffs
China will require major European brandy exporters to raise prices or risk anti-dumping taxes of up to 34.9 percent from Saturday, the latest salvo in its long-running trade spat with the bloc. Almost all EU brandy is cognac produced in France, exports of which to China are worth 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion) per year. Beijing launched an investigation last year into EU brandy, months after the bloc undertook a probe into Chinese electric vehicle (EV) subsidies. It said it had determined in a preliminary ruling that dumping had occurred and imposed "temporary anti-dumping measures" on imports of the alcoholic beverage -- moves now costing the industry 50 million euros per month. Beijing's commerce ministry said on Friday that China's tariff commission had "decided to impose anti-dumping duties on imports of relevant brandy originating in the EU" from Saturday. But Beijing said in an explanatory note that several major French cognac producers had signed onto a price commitment to avoid the tariffs -- as long as they sell at or above an agreed minimum price. French liquor giant Jas Hennessy would be hit with levies of 34.9 percent if it reneges on the deal, it said. Remy Martin will be hit with 34.3 percent and Martell 27.7 percent. "The decision to accept the price commitment once again demonstrates China's sincerity in resolving trade frictions through dialogue and consultation," a commerce ministry spokesperson said in a statement. China has sought to improve relations with the European Union as a counterweight to superpower rival the United States. But deep frictions remain over economics -- including a yawning trade deficit of $357.1 billion between China and the EU, as well as Beijing's close ties with Russia despite Moscow's war in Ukraine. The new levy threats come as Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi has held fraught meetings with his counterparts during a tour of Europe this week. They will likely be high on the agenda when he meets French President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Friday afternoon in Paris. A trade row between Beijing and the bloc erupted last summer when the EU moved towards imposing hefty tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China, arguing that Beijing's subsidies were unfairly undercutting European competitors. Beijing denied that claim and announced what were widely seen as retaliatory probes into imported European pork, brandy and dairy products. The bloc imposed extra import taxes of up to 35 percent on Chinese EV imports in October. Beijing later lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization, which said in April that it would set up an expert panel to assess the EU's decision. China and the EU are scheduled to hold a summit this month to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties. Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources, that Beijing intends to cancel the second day of the summit.
Int'l Business Times
10 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Rio To Host BRICS Summit Wary Of Trump
A summit of BRICS nations will convene in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday and Monday, with members hoping to weigh in on global crises while tiptoeing around US President Donald Trump's policies. The city, with beefed-up security, will play host to leaders and diplomats from 11 emerging economies including China, India, Russia and South Africa, which represent nearly half of the world's population and 40 percent of its GDP. Brazil's left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will have to navigate the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will miss the summit for the first time. Beijing will instead be represented by its Prime Minister Li Qiang. Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who is facing a pending International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, will not travel to Brazil, but is set to participate via video link, according to the Kremlin. Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, fresh from a 12-day conflict with Israel and a skirmish with the United States, will also be absent, as will his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, a Brazilian government source told AFP. Tensions in the Middle East, including Israel's ongoing war in Gaza, will weigh on the summit, as well as the grim anticipation of tariffs threatened by Trump due next week. "We're anticipating a summit with a cautious tone: it will be difficult to mention the United States by name in the final declaration," Marta Fernandez, director of the BRICS Policy Center at Rio's Pontifical Catholic University told AFP. China, for example, "is trying to adopt a restrained position on the Middle East", Fernandez said, pointing out that Beijing was also in tricky tariff negotiations with Washington. "This doesn't seem to be the right time to provoke further friction" between the world's two leading economies, the researcher said. BRICS members did not issue a strong statement on the Iran-Israel conflict and subsequent US military strikes due to their "diverging" interests, according to Oliver Stuenkel, an international relations professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation. Brazil nevertheless hopes that countries can take a common stand at the summit, including on the most sensitive issues. "BRICS (countries), throughout their history, have managed to speak with one voice on major international issues, and there's no reason why that shouldn't be the case this time on the subject of the Middle East," Brazil's Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira told AFP. However, talks on finding an alternative to the dollar for trade between BRICS members are likely dead in the water. For Fernandez, it is almost "forbidden" to mention the idea within the group since Trump threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on countries that challenge the dollar's international dominance. Brazil, which in 2030 will host the COP30 UN climate conference, also hopes to find unity on the fight against climate change. Artificial intelligence and global governance reform will also be on the menu. "The escalation of the Middle East conflict reinforces the urgency of the debate on the need to reform global governance and strengthen multilateralism," said foreign minister Vieira. Since 2023, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran and Indonesia have joined the BRICS, formed in 2009 as a counter-balance to leading Western economies. But, as Fernandez points out, this expansion "makes it all the more difficult to build a strong consensus."
