China's newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the CNS Fujian, sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday in a high-profile demonstration of Beijing's expanding naval power, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said.

Videos posted to social media showed the Fujian leaving Sunday from Yulin Naval Base, which also serves as the home port of aircraft carrier CNS Shandong, according to U.S. Naval Institute News.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry issued a brief statement Wednesday confirming the carrier had transited the Taiwan Strait the previous day.

The Taiwanese military monitored the passage and released a low-resolution black-and-white image showing the carrier with an empty flight deck, the Defense Ministry said.

The transit marked the Fujian's first known passage through the Taiwan Strait since it formally entered service in November, underscoring heightened tensions in the strategically sensitive waterway separating China from the self-governing island, according to USNI News.

Chinese mainland military affairs expert Song Zhongping told the state-run Global Times that the carrier's northward transit could indicate it is headed to a shipyard in Shanghai.

Song said the Fujian recently completed its first round of intensive testing and training in the South China Sea, and maintenance and adjustments would be a logical next step.

Another Chinese military analyst, Wang Yunfei, told the Global Times it was possible the carrier could instead continue training and exercises.

USNI News reported the Fujian also could sail to Bohai Bay, a People's Liberation Army Navy training area used for carrier operations and flight certifications.

The Fujian is China's third aircraft carrier and its most capable to date. It features a flat flight deck and electromagnetic catapults for launching aircraft, making it significantly more capable than China's first two carriers, the Russian-designed Liaoning and Shandong, according to The Japan Times.

The Liaoning and Shandong recently returned to their home ports after deployments earlier this month.

Both carriers were deployed extensively in 2025, including operating simultaneously with their respective carrier strike groups around Japan's southwest region in June, USNI News reported.

Beijing has described the Taiwan Strait passage as routine naval activity, but Taipei views such movements as part of a sustained pressure campaign near the island, which China claims as its territory.

Taiwan and the U.S. regard the strait as international waters, and the U.S. regularly sails warships through it in support of freedom of navigation.

According to Defense News, the Fujian's advanced launch system narrows China's technological gap with the U.S. China and the U.S. are the only navies operating aircraft carriers equipped with electromagnetic catapults, allowing planes to launch with heavier fuel and weapons loads.

Defense News reported that significant differences remain.

The Fujian is conventionally powered, requiring periodic refueling, unlike the U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered carriers, which can operate for years without refueling.

The Chinese carrier's displacement — about 80,000 tons — is also smaller than the roughly 100,000-ton Ford-class carriers operated by the United States, and its air wing is expected to be smaller and less experienced.

The U.S. operates 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, backed by decades of global operational experience that China's young carrier force has yet to match.

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