China has also been deploying increasing numbers of non-military government ships such as coastguard, marine research and maritime safety vessels in waters around Taiwan. Defence experts believe the missions gather ocean data for submarine warfare and simulate coercive measures that could be used in a blockade.

Amid continued saber-rattling from Beijing, everyday Chinese are more focused on bread-and-butter issues like the slowing economy, an analyst says.

Large-scale helicopter assault, long-range rockets and sophisticated electronic warfare by naval forces highlighted in evening documentary.

China said on Thursday its Liaoning aircraft carrier had been on a routine training mission in the western Pacific and dismissed charges by Tokyo that the vessel and its escorts had entered Japanese waters.

A Chinese aircraft carrier entered Japan’s contiguous waters for the first time on Wednesday, leading Tokyo to convey its “serious concerns” to Beijing over China’s increasingly assertive military actions around Japan,