{"id":9936,"date":"2011-08-09T04:08:19","date_gmt":"2011-08-09T04:08:19","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-08-09T04:08:19","modified_gmt":"2011-08-09T04:08:19","slug":"China-s-first-aircraft-carrier-starts-sea-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=9936","title":{"rendered":"China’s first aircraft carrier starts sea trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

China’s first aircraft carrier has begun its inaugural sea trial, the defense ministry said today, a move likely to stoke concerns about the nation’s rapid military expansion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beijing only recently confirmed it was revamping an old Soviet ship to be its first carrier, adding to worries among its neighbors over the country’s military build-up and growing assertiveness on territorial issues.<\/p>\n

Beijing last month sought to play down the capability of its first carrier, saying the vessel would be used for training and “research”.<\/p>\n

Chen Bingde<\/strong>, the nation’s top military official, only provided the first official acknowledgment of the aircraft carrier in a Hong Kong newspaper interview in early June.<\/p>\n

But media reports and military analysts have said for years that the 300-meter (990-foot) ship was in development.<\/p>\n

The ship, once called the Varyag, was originally built for the Soviet navy.<\/strong> Construction was interrupted by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.<\/p>\n

Andrei Chang, head of the Kanwa Information Centre, which monitors China’s military, told AFP the trial would likely only last about an hour.<\/p>\n

Last week Japan voiced concern over China’s growing assertiveness and widening naval reach and over what it called the “opaqueness” of Beijing’s military budget.<\/p>\n

The carrier project also comes amid heightened tensions over a number of maritime territorial disputes involving China<\/strong>, notably in the South China Sea, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas and is claimed by several countries.<\/p>\n

The issue has heated up recently with run-ins between China and fellow claimants Vietnam and the Philippines, sparking concern among its neighbouring countries and the United States.<\/p>\n

In September, a row erupted between Japan and China over the disputed Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in Chinese, located in the East China Sea.<\/p>\n

China reportedly bought the ship’s immense armored hull — with no engine, electrics or propeller — in 1998.<\/p>\n

Chang pointed out that he had not seen any form of arresting gear on the carrier — the mechanical system that rapidly decelerates a plane as it lands — in photos he had seen so far.<\/p>\n

China’s People’s Liberation Army<\/strong> — the largest armed force in the world — is extremely secretive about its defense programmes, which benefit from a huge and expanding military budget boosted by the nation’s runaway economic growth.<\/p>\n

The PLA also operates the country’s navy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Source AFP<\/em>
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