South China Morning Post
Date: December 21, 2019
By: Minnie Chan

• China's newest aircraft carrier is likely to team up with its other flat top to block foreign forces from coming to Taiwan's aid in the event of a conflict, experts say.
• The Shandong, which was commissioned on Tuesday, could work with sister ship Liaoning to cut off Taiwan or head to the South China Sea to give Beijing an advantage there.

China's new aircraft carrier is likely to team up with its sister ship to form a dual-carrier battle group to cut off foreign military access to Taiwan during a war, according to a military magazine and defence specialists.

Instead of fighting alone, the Shandong, which was commissioned on Tuesday, would work with the Liaoning, a refitted Soviet Kuznetsov-class vessel, to create a more powerful combination to block US or Japanese vessels from reaching the island if they went to the aid independence-leaning forces on Taiwan, the Beijing-based Naval and Merchant Ships monthly magazine reported on Tuesday.

"[Another major] task of the [battle group’s aircraft] is to stop US long-range bombers from taking off from a naval base in Guam. This would be to prevent American aircraft targeting the PLA's landing transport formations and Chinese submarines," it said.    [FULL  STORY]