New Carrier Signals Full Steam Ahead for Red China’s Naval Ambitions

China has just launched its own aircraft carrier, and it’s a moment of tremendous pride for a country that has become a major sea-faring nation only in recent years.Yes, China has two other carriers, but the 80,000-ton Fujian, named for the mainland Chinese province that’s closest to the island province of Taiwan, is different from those two. It was “completely designed and built by China,” the Chinese national news agency, Xinhua, reported.It’s not only Chinese-engineered but also a clear rival to America’s 11 aircraft carriers, at least two of which often cruise waters claimed by China.The spirit of competition with American naval strength in the region was evident in the report on the launch in the English-language Global Times, an offshoot of the People’s Daily, the voice of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.The paper cited “analysts” saying the Fujian is “the first Chinese aircraft carrier to come close to rival its US counterparts thanks to technologies it uses like catapults.”Its launch, Global Times said, marked “a key landmark in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s pursuit to become a blue-water navy.” The carrier, it added, “is larger, more powerful and more advanced than the previous two.”Constructed by Chinese labor from bow to stern, the Fujian is not a knock-off of a Russian carrier, like China’s second carrier, the Shandong, which was built in China, all right, but designed by Russians. And it’s certainly not a refurbished old Soviet tub like the Liaoning, which China acquired from Ukraine in 2012, long after the break-up of the former Soviet Union in 1991.The Fujian is the real deal, judging by Chinese reports of its launching in Shanghai where the China State Shipbuilding Corporation put together the entire vessel to the specs of its own experts. The Chinese media reflected the thrill of the occasion.As the ship slipped out of its flooded drydock, streamers flowed from the vessel to the pier. Photographs showed rows of sailors in dress white uniforms applauding in unison on the dock as multi-colored clouds of smoke wafted over the scene.The Fujian is not only considerably bigger than China’s two earlier carriers, each of which displaces about 60,000 tons, but also boasts a far more advanced launch system. Those two carriers rely on decks that look like ski slopes to get planes into the air, but the Fujian, the Global Times said, has “a flat, straight flight deck equipped with electromagnetic catapults and arresting devices.”Unlike its American rivals, the Fujian is not nuclear-powered. In all the hullabaloo surrounding the launch, the Chinese media neglected to say exactly what’s driving the ship, but we can assume it’s running on diesel steam engines. Not that nuclear power is out of reach for Chinese engineers. They’ve got a bunch of nuclear-powered submarines — and may very well be working on nuclear power for their next aircraft carrier.The rise of China as a Pacific Ocean power presents an obvious challenge to the American Navy, whose aircraft carriers periodically make a show of cruising the South China Sea, where China has built air and naval bases on small islets. China claims the entire South China Sea and has often warned American planes and ships to stay away.China’s navy is still not nearly as powerful as America’s, but Chinese sea power has been growing while the American Navy has been having problems.“The 21st century has not been kind to the U.S. Navy’s vast surface fleet,” a former British royal navy officer, Alexander Wooley, wrote in the magazine Foreign Policy. “In an effort to leap ahead of other navies through revolutionary designs and technologies, the Navy has instead fallen significantly behind … many vessels have been retired early, while others wait years for repairs.”Criticism has focused in particular on the ordeal of America’s largest, most advanced carrier, United States Ship Gerald Ford, a 100,000-ton behemoth that’s now completing sea trials.Citing “extensive problems, cost overruns, and delays,” Mr. Wooley said the Gerald Ford’s “overly ambitious design includes new propulsion, a buggy magnetic catapult, a new aircraft arresting system, a new primary radar, and advanced weapons elevators.”For now, however, Fujian won’t pose a threat. It must undergo numerous tests at sea before it’s ready for real service, a process that’s sure to take a year and probably longer. When the Fujian is ready for action, however, the specter of the American and Chinese navies coming to blows in disputed waters is not out of the question.China was humiliated in the Taiwan Straits crisis of 1995-96 when President Clinton sent Navy vessels into the straits after China fired missiles and threatened to attack Taiwan in a bid to disrupt the election for president of Taiwan in March 1996. At the height of the crisis. Mr. Clinton ordered an aircraft carrier, United States Ship Nimitz, accompanied by its own battle group, into the straits while another carrier, United States Ship Independence, hovered nearby.The Chinese eventually backed down, realizing they simply did not have the strength to chase away American warships. The issue then, as now, was Chinese concern that Taiwan might declare independence. Sure, Taiwan functions as an independent state, but China insists it’s all part of mainland China and promises one day to recover it.China’s defense minister, General Wei Fenghe, said recently that China “will fight at all costs and we will fight to the very end” to stop Taiwan from going independent. With the support of the Fujian and other vessels under construction, Chinese leaders at least want to keep the Americans from running them out of the Taiwan Straits, as happened 26 years ago. Yes, China claims sovereignty over the Taiwan Straits, too.

New Carrier Signals Full Steam Ahead for Red China’s Naval Ambitions

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