Chinese Carrier Liaoning Transits Taiwan Strait for First Time Since Late 2024
The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Monday, April 20, according to Taiwan’s defence ministry — marking the first passage of a carrier through the waterway since late last year.
The transit is a deliberate signal. The strait, roughly 180 kilometers wide at its narrowest, is one of the most politically loaded stretches of water in the world. Beijing claims it as internal waters; Washington and Taipei reject that framing and maintain freedom-of-navigation as a standing principle. Sending a carrier through it is not a routine patrol — it is a message, timed and calculated.
The Liaoning, China’s first operational aircraft carrier, is based on a Soviet-era hull and has served primarily as a training and demonstration platform. Its military utility in a conflict scenario is limited compared to China’s newer domestically built carriers. But utility is not always the point. Visibility is.
The gap since the last transit — months, by Taiwan’s own account — makes this one more notable. Periods of restraint followed by a resumed pattern of pressure are a known feature of Beijing’s coercive toolkit. Whether this signals a return to more frequent carrier transits, or remains a one-off repositioning, will become clear in the weeks ahead.
Taipei logged it. That is what matters operationally. The record is now public.