The Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier, sails in the sea
near Qingdao in eastern China's Shandong province.
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BEIJING (AP) —
China is building its second aircraft carrier, this time entirely
with domestic technology, its Defense Ministry said Thursday, in a
leap in its naval development that is increasingly tipping the
regional balance of power.
The 50,000-ton
vessel is being built in the northern port of Dalian and will be
conventionally, rather than nuclear, powered, ministry spokesman Col.
Yang Yujun told reporters at a news conference.
The yet-to-be-named
vessel will carry J-15 fighter-bombers and other aircraft and use a
ski jump mode for launching fixed-wing aircraft, Yang said. The J-15
is a copy of Russia's Sukhoi Su-33.
"After an
overall consideration of various factors, the relevant authorities
started the research and development of China's second aircraft
carrier which is currently under independent design and
construction," Yang said.
China currently
operates one aircraft carrier that was purchased as an incomplete
hull from Ukraine more than a decade ago and then armed and equipped
in China before being commissioned in 2013. That carrier, christened
the Liaoning after the port in which it was refitted, has yet to take
on its full aviation complement and is currently undergoing testing
and training.
Yang said the
second carrier is being built entirely with domestic technology but
has drawn on China's experience refitting its first carrier "with
new improvements in various aspects."
Plans for a second
aircraft carrier had long been rumored, with many designating
Shanghai's Jiangnan Shipyard as the most likely build site.
Thursday's announcement was the first official confirmation.
China is also
steadily adding cutting-edge frigates, destroyers and nuclear
submarines to its fleet and by some estimates has been launching more
vessels than any other nation. Its rapid naval modernization is seen
as aimed at asserting its maritime claims and extending its power far
from its shores. Those ambitions have raised tensions with Japan, the
U.S. and Southeast Asian nations with rival territorial claims.
China claims
sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, which is home to
key shipping lanes, rich fishing grounds and a potential wealth of
mineral resources. Five other governments claim the maritime space
either in part or in whole, and the Philippines and Vietnam in
particular have sought assistance from the U.S. and others in beefing
up their ability to resist what they view as Chinese aggression,
including its construction of seven new islands by piling sand atop
coral reefs.
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