Beijing : China on Wednesday launched its first domestically-built aircraft carrier, boosting its blue-water naval capabilities amidst the Communist giant flexing its muscles in the strategic South China Sea and growing regional tension over nuclear-armed North Korea.
The 50,000-tonne new aircraft carrier, which will join an existing one bought from Ukraine in 1998, was transferred from a dry dock into the water at a launch ceremony in northeast Dalian shipyard of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC) amid streamers and champagne.
The as-yet unnamed vessel was towed from Dalian Shipyard, Liaoning, to a nearby wharf, China’s Ministry of National Defence said. The launch came three days after the 68th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army Navy on Sunday, and against the backdrop of a rising China’s efforts to beef up its navy to project the world’s second largest economy’s growing clout abroad.
The carrier is touted to be a significant upgrade from the ‘Liaoning’, which was built more than 25 years ago and is a refurbished Soviet ship bought from Ukraine.
China began building its second carrier in November 2013. Dock construction started in March 2015. However, the carrier is not expected to enter active service until 2020. Putting the carrier into water marked progress in China’s efforts to design and build a domestic aircraft carrier, state-run Xinhua news agency commented.
After the launch, the new carrier will undergo equipment debugging, outfitting and comprehensive mooring trials, the defence ministry said. A blue-water navy is a maritime force capable of operating globally across the deep waters of open oceans.
The launch was timed with US sending a naval battle group headed by aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to the Korean peninsula in a big show of strength. North Korea has been provoking the US and its neighbours like South Korea and Japan by conducting nuclear and missile tests.
The launch ceremony was attended by General Fan Changlong, Vice Chairman of the the powerful Central Military Commission, China’s top military body.
China has the second largest military budget in the world, estimated at USD 148 billion after a seven per cent spending increase announced in March 2017.–PTI
