China sends aircraft carrier group into western Pacific

JUST IN: China sends its Liaoning aircraft carrier group into the western Pacific for 'realistic' drills Beijing says are 'not directed against any specific country or target.' Japan expected to monitor closely.

China's Liaoning aircraft carrier group is heading into the western Pacific again, and Beijing swears it's aimed at nobody in particular.

The Defense Ministry calls it routine annual training, realistic drills to sharpen the fleet, all in line with international law and, quote, not directed against any specific country or target. You can see the Liaoning here, and if you're wondering who the unnamed non-target might be, Japan is already watching. Tokyo treats this patch of ocean as an exposed flank, and the close calls keep stacking up.

In June, Beijing accused Japanese forces of dangerous harassment during forty days of far-sea training. Last December, fighters off this same carrier locked their radar onto Japanese jets near Okinawa, twice. And all of this lands while relations sit at their lowest point in decades, after Prime Minister Takaichi suggested Japan could intervene militarily over Taiwan.

So a routine drill, in the most watched water on earth, between two militaries that keep nearly touching. The next close encounter isn't a question of if.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.