China escalates military drills near Taiwan and Japan

The Chinese navy has conducted 120 flight sorties from an aircraft carrier over the past three days, Japan said on Monday, highlighting the concerns that Beijing’s war games around Taiwan have raised for the US and its allies in the Indo-Pacific region.

Fighter aircraft took off and landed 80 times on the Shandong, China’s second aircraft carrier, in waters east of Taiwan and south of Japan as of Sunday night, while helicopters conducted an additional 40 flights from the ship.