China’s Fujian aircraft carrier took to the water for maiden sea trials yesterday, Chinese state media said, a key next step in a vast naval build-up by Beijing as it carves out a more assertive role for itself in the Pacific and beyond.
The Fujian is China’s third aircraft carrier after the Liaoning and the Shandong vessels, and is the Chinese navy’s largest-ever ship.
It departed from eastern Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard at about 8am, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said.
Photo: Xinhua via AP
The trials would “primarily test the reliability and stability of the aircraft carrier’s propulsion and electrical systems,” it added.
China has stepped up a massive expansion of its naval forces in the past few years, as it seeks to expand its reach in the Pacific and challenge a US-led alliance system.
Tensions have notably flared in the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety, and near Taiwan, where it has deployed the Shandong aircraft carrier.
A January report by the US Congressional Research Service, citing the Pentagon, described it as the largest navy in the world and said it projected it to grow to 435 ships by 2030.
The build-up is aimed at “addressing the situation with Taiwan militarily, if need be” as well as “achieving a greater degree of control or domination over China’s near-seas region, particularly the South China Sea,” the report said.
China wants its navy to be able to deter “US intervention in a conflict in China’s near-seas region over Taiwan or some other issue, or failing that, delay the arrival or reduce the effectiveness of intervening US forces,” it added.
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