Carrier sails Taiwan Strait

China’s aircraft carrier *Liaoning* sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Monday, and Taiwan said its forces kept the ship under close watch. (reuters.com) Taiwan’s defense ministry said the carrier moved through the strait in a northbound transit on April 20, 2026. It was the first Chinese carrier passage there that Taipei has reported since December, when the newer carrier *Fujian* made a similar trip. (stripes.com) An aircraft carrier is a warship built to launch and recover combat aircraft at sea, and *Liaoning* is China’s first one. China commissioned the ship into the People’s Liberation Army Navy on September 25, 2012, after refitting a former Soviet hull. (eng.mod.gov.cn, chinadaily.com.cn) The Taiwan Strait is the narrow waterway between China and Taiwan, and both militaries use movements there to signal resolve. Taiwan has reported near-daily Chinese military activity around the island in recent years, including ships, aircraft, and large-scale drills. (reuters.com) The legal dispute sits on top of the military one. Beijing says the strait falls under Chinese sovereignty claims, while Taipei and Washington say a corridor of waters and airspace there remains open to international navigation. (independent.co.uk, us-taiwan.org) That argument has sharpened as more navies pass through the strait. The United States has repeatedly sent warships through it, and Japan’s destroyer *Ikazuchi* also made a transit in April 2026, according to regional reporting. (us-taiwan.org, msn.com) For China, sending *Liaoning* through the strait shows it can move a carrier through one of East Asia’s most watched waterways without warning. For Taiwan, publicly announcing the transit and its monitoring is part of showing that its military tracked the ship in real time. (reuters.com, stripes.com) The passage did not trigger an announced clash, but it added another visible military move to a strait where every transit is read for political meaning. That is why one ship’s Monday crossing became Tuesday’s regional headline. (reuters.com, independent.co.uk)