The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning passed through the Miyako Strait in the East China Sea yesterday on its way to the Pacific Ocean, where the navy is expected to carry out training. Collin Koh, a research fellow at RSIS at NTU Singapore, said the strait was “one of the quickest routes into the open western Pacific Ocean, where the PLA is expected to wage combat operations – especially in the Philippine Sea – in the event of a counter-intervention against American forces deployed from Guam in particular”.