PLA Aircraft Carrier Liaoning Transits Taiwan Strait; 5 Sorties and 12 PLAN Vessels Detected

China's aircraft carrier Liaoning (CV-16) transited the Taiwan Strait on April 20, 2026, in a significant escalation of cross-strait military signaling. Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense detected 5 PLA aircraft sorties and 12 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan — the highest ship count since the post-KMT-summit surge. Four aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait median line and entered Taiwan's southwestern ADIZ. Taiwan's MND released aerial surveillance photographs showing fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters on the carrier's flight deck. The 300-meter Liaoning, refurbished from the unfinished Soviet carrier Varyag and commissioned in 2012, serves as China's primary carrier training platform. The transit — the most visible PLA naval signal since the Liaoning's last strait crossing — comes 25 days before the scheduled May 14–15 Trump-Xi summit in Beijing.