By Yasuto Tanaka

At the beginning of this year, a Chinese Navy fleet approached the “Third Island Chain,” which includes the U.S. state of Hawaii, and conducted training there for the first time ever, the Sankei Shimbun learned on Sept. 3. This event was reported in an undisclosed annual report on the Chinese military submitted on Sept. 1 by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense to the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan (parliament). China demonstrated its ability to cross the “Second Island Chain,” which links the Ogasawara Islands and the U.S. territory of Guam, and strike Hawaii, a strategic U.S. foothold where the Indo-Pacific Command is based.

The report says that a long-voyage fleet of the South Sea Fleet (headquartered in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province) “approached the Third Island Chain for the first time at the beginning of this year and showed the international community that it can break through the blockade of the (First and Second) Island Chains and conduct operations in deep waters.” It also wrote that China proved its ability to command and control the fleet, navigate for a long period of time, and repair warships at sea in waters far from the Chinese mainland. The report describes a strategic structure in which the Chinese Navy threatens not only the U.S. territory of Guam but also the “Third Island Chain” that includes Hawaii. (Abridged)