Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - China launched its third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, named for the province bordering self-ruled Taiwa...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - China launched its third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, named for the province bordering self-ruled Taiwan, on Friday, sending a message of intent to adversaries as it modernises its military.
President Xi Jinping has made upgrading the world's largest armed forces a priority, aiming to extend influence well beyond China's borders, despite the government's claims to the contrary.
At a ceremony at the Jiangnan shipyard in Shanghai, state media stated that champagne, colourful ribbons, water cannons, and smoke were used to mark the aircraft carrier's launch and formal designation.
At the ceremony, which was attended by senior officials including Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, dozens of navy soldiers lined up in front of the ship and sung the national song.
According to state media, the aircraft carrier has a full-length flight deck with a catapult launch system.
The Fujian will be joined by the Shandong, which will be commissioned in late 2019, and the Liaoning, which China purchased secondhand from Ukraine in 1998 and rebuilt at home.
China is still honing its ability to manage aircraft carriers and integrate them into combat groups, as the US has done for decades.
Only the United States has more aircraft carriers, with 11 of them. Britain has two operational submarines, which are ranked just behind China.
The launch of the Fujian indicates the military's growing capabilities at a time when tensions between China and the United States are building over Beijing's claims to Taiwan and the South China Sea.
The aircraft carrier was named after Fujian, a coastal region directly over the Taiwan Strait from Taiwan and home to the People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theatre Command.
Taiwan is a vibrant democracy, but China believes the island to be its own territory and has never shied away from using force to reclaim it.
In a statement to Reuters regarding the aircraft carrier, Taiwan's defence ministry said it "attaches significant importance" to China's military developments.
Taiwan "incorporates this into adversary situation research in a forward-thinking way, employs novel asymmetric thinking, and actively develops countermeasures to effectively implement the military doctrine of defensive persistence and heavy deterrence," according to the report.
Taiwan holds two sets of islands, Kinmen and Matsu, that are geographically part of Fujian and sit just off its coast, and which were periodically bombarded by China during the Cold War.
