China’s military begins three days of seaborne rocket launches in Yellow Sea

Troops also conducting live-fire exercises in a southern section of the waterway from 8am to 6pm Tuesday to Thursday, maritime safety administration says
News of military manoeuvres comes as China completes its second space launch from a floating platform in the Yellow Sea

China's military weapons

Catherine Wong

Published: 9:45pm, 15 Sep 2020

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China’s military has begun three days of seaborne rocket launches in the Yellow Sea, according to an official notice.

The launches will take place each morning between 7.30am and 11.30am from Tuesday to Thursday in the southern reaches of the waterway, off the coast of the eastern province of Shandong, according to a statement by the Lianyungang Maritime Safety Administration.

No unauthorised vessels would be allowed within that section of the Yellow Sea, which lies between mainland China and the Korean peninsula, during the launches, it said.

In an earlier notice, the administration said the military would stage live-fire exercises in a southern area of the Yellow Sea on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 8am to 6pm each day.

A separate notice issued by the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration said debris from the first stage boosters of the seaborne rockets was expected to fall into the East China Sea, off the coast of the megacity.

The announcement of the rocket launches came after China’s state media reported the country completed its second seaborne space launch.

A Long March-11 rocket lifted off from a floating platform in the Yellow Sea off the coast of Shandong early on Tuesday morning, tabloid Global Times reported.

The rocket was carrying a group of nine new satellites for the Jilin-1 remote sensing constellation, it said.

China conducted its first seaborne space launch in the Yellow Sea in June last year. Its four other rocket launch sites are located in the cities of Jiuquan, Taiyuan, Xichang and Wenchang.

Beijing said earlier it planned to conduct at least three seaborne launches using the Long March-11 rocket in 2020.

The Global Times report said Tuesday’s launch was from a new vessel that would help pave the way for more frequent missions in the future.

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