The Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian passes through the Taiwan Strait on Dec. 16, 2025. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense)
China’s newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, steamed through the Taiwan Strait this week for the first time since being commissioned, a move closely monitored by Taiwan amid ongoing tensions with Beijing.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense disclosed the transit Wednesday in a post on X, alongside an aerial photograph of the carrier. The island’s military “monitored the situation and responded,” the ministry wrote, without elaborating.
The Fujian crossed the strait Tuesday, marking its first such passage since its Nov. 5 commissioning, according to the ministry and Taiwanese Defense Minister Wellington Koo, cited by the Taipei Times on Wednesday. The ship had previously sailed through the strait at least once during sea trials on Sept. 12.
China’s Defense Ministry had not publicly commented on the transit as of Thursday afternoon.
During the September passage, the ministry said the carrier was en route to the South China Sea for “scientific research tests and training missions,” calling the transit a “regular arrangement in the aircraft carrier’s construction process” and saying it was “not aimed at any specific target.”
The Fujian appeared to be operating without aircraft on board during Tuesday’s transit, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said.
Following the carrier’s passage, Taiwan reported heightened Chinese military activity around the island.
The ministry said Thursday that China conducted 40 aircraft sorties — more than half of which crossed the strait’s unofficial median line — and deployed eight naval vessels in nearby waters over a 24-hour period beginning Wednesday morning.
The Fujian is China’s second domestically built aircraft carrier and the first of its class. Unlike the United States’ nuclear-powered carrier fleet, the Fujian and China’s two earlier carriers are powered by steam turbines.
The ship, however, represents a significant technological leap for Beijing’s navy. It features an electromagnetic catapult system similar to that used on the Navy’s newest carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, enabling the launch of heavier aircraft and potentially expanding China’s naval aviation capabilities.
