Taiwan says Chinese aircraft carrier group sailed through strait

FILE PHOTO: Chinese and Taiwanese flags are seen in this illustration, August 6, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/FILE PHOTO

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A Chinese aircraft carrier group led by the vessel Shandong sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, Taiwan's defence ministry said, in the latest uptick in military tension over the island Beijing claims as its own territory.

The ministry said the Shandong, commissioned in 2019, had sailed in a southerly direction through the western part of the strait, and it had dispatched "appropriate forces" to monitor the Chinese activities.

(Reporting by Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)