China launches its first domestically-built aircraft carrier, its second overall
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Type 001A, China’s second aircraft carrier, is seen during a launch ceremony at Dalian shipyard, in Dalian, in northeast China’s Liaoning Province, April 26, 2017
China launched its first domestically-built aircraft carrier on Wednesday, with analysts pointing to Beijing’s rising capability to degrade the United States’ perceived military prominence in the region.
Chinese state media quoted military experts as saying the carrier, China’s second and built in the northeastern 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 carrier’s development. China officially confirmed its existence in late 2015.
The launch “shows our country’s indigenous aircraft carrier design and construction has achieved major step-by-step results,” the Xinhua news agency said in a report.
State television showed the carrier, its deck lined in red flags, being pushed by tug boats into its berth.
The launch follows China’s celebration on Sunday of the 68th birthday of the founding of the Chinese navy and comes amid renewed tensions between North Korea and the United States over Pyongyang’s missile and military nuclear programs.
EA
