China has commissioned its latest aircraft carrier after extensive sea trials, adding a ship that experts say will help what is already the world’s largest navy expand its power farther beyond its own waters.
President Xi Jinping attended the commissioning and flag-presenting ceremony of the Fujian in Hainan province, and boarded the vessel for an inspection tour.
The Fujian is China’s third aircraft carrier, with a flat flight deck and electromagnetic catapults for take-offs that make it a potentially far more powerful naval weapon than China’s first two Russian-designed carriers.
The Fujian will be able to carry significantly more and heavier-armed jet fighters than the Liaoning and Shandong carriers, which are smaller and rely on ramps to launch aircraft.
In sea trials ahead of the commissioning, the Chinese navy launched its new carrier version of the J-35 stealth fighter and an early-warning aircraft, the KJ-600, as well as a variant of its established J-15 fighter.
The Pentagon’s annual report on China’s military modernisation, released last December, noted that the Fujian and future similar carriers would boost China’s ability to project military power, in part through deploying highly specialised electronic warfare and anti-submarine aircraft.
“This will increase the striking power of a potential People’s Liberation Army Navy carrier battle group when deployed to areas beyond (China’s) immediate periphery,” it said.
Koh said the Fujian was likely to play a key domestic propaganda role, and he said he also expected the Chinese navy to deploy its exercises around Taiwan, even if its role in Taiwan conflict scenarios is up for debate.
“This is potentially a game changer for China but there are a lot of capabilities here they’ve still got to test and finesse and that includes quite how they would best deploy it in a Taiwan conflict,” said Koh, of Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
Reuters/Hauwa M.