China Launches First Home-Built Aircraft Carrier Amid South Sea Tension

China launched its first domestically built aircraft carrier on Wednesday amid rising tension over North Korea and worries about Beijings assertiveness in the South China Sea, the report said.It quoted military experts as saying the carrier, Chinas second and built in the north-eastern port of Dalian, is not expected to enter service until 2020, once it has been kitted out and armed.Foreign military analysts and Chinese media have for months published satellite images, photographs and news stories about the second carriers development.China confirmed its existence in late 2015.The launch shows our countrys indigenous aircraft carrier design and construction has achieved major step-by-step results, the report quoted china news agency as saying.State television showed the carrier, its deck lined in red flags, being pushed by tug boats into its berth.Fan Changlong, Vice Chairman of Chinas powerful Central Military Commission, presided over the ceremony, it said.The launch follows Chinas celebration on Sunday of the 68th birthday of the founding of the Chinese navy, and comes amid renewed tensions between North Korea and the U.S. over Pyongyangs nuclear and missile programs.Little is known about Chinas aircraft carrier program, which is a state secret.However, the government has said the new carriers design draws on experiences from the countrys first carrier, the Liaoning, bought second-hand from Ukraine in 1998 and refitted in China.The new conventionally powered carrier will be able to operate Chinas Shenyang J-15 fighter jets.Unlike the U.S. navys longer-range nuclear carriers, both of Chinas feature Soviet-design ski-jump bows, intended to give fighter jets enough lift to take off from their shorter decks.However, they lack the powerful catapult technology for launching aircraft of their U.S. counterparts. (Reuters/NAN)
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