China Highlights Anti Ship Missiles as 3 US Aircraft carrier sail in the Indo-Pacific region

The Chinese media has played up possessing indigenous ‘killer weapons’ like DF-21D and DF-26 anti-ship ballistic missiles ‘designed to sink aircraft carriers’ as the United States sends three of its Aircraft Carriers as part of massive armada sailing close to Chinese territorial waters.

The US Navy carriers, namely the USS Theodore Roosevelt, USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan, together with other US naval warships and aircraft, are patrolling the Indo-Pacific waters.

Referring to the simultaneous sailing of 3 aircraft carrier and associated warships, Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies told Time, “The Chinese will definitely portray this as an example of U.S. provocations, and as evidence that the U.S. is a source of instability in the region.”

While the medium-range DF-21D can cover the First Island Chain the intermediate-range DF-26 missile can strike targets at Guam. These missiles can attack medium-sized to large surface vessels at very high speeds, making them difficult to intercept, according to publicly available information.

“By massing these aircraft carriers, the US is attempting to demonstrate to the whole region and even the world that it remains the most powerful naval force, as they could enter the South China Sea and threaten Chinese troops on the Xisha and Nansha islands as well as vessels passing through nearby waters, so the US could carry out its hegemonic politics,” Li Jie, a Beijing-based naval expert, was quoted as saying by Global Times on June 14.