New China carrier makes waves in South China Sea

Commissioning ceremony for China’s new aircraft carrier the Shandong, Sanya, Hainan, China, December 17, 2019. Photo: Facebook

Newly commissioned Shandong bolsters Beijing’s bid to dominate the contested waterway

ByRICHARD JAVAD HEYDARIAN, SANYA, HAINAN

Chinese President Xi Jinping formally commissioned on Tuesday (December 17) the country’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, known as the Shandong, on the southern island of Hainan, a deployment that will shift the strategic balance in the South China Sea.

Symbolically accompanied by two close allies, Zhang Youxia, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Vice-Premier Liu He, lead trade negotiator with the United States, Xi used the occasion to celebrate China’s emergence as a major naval power amid intensifying disputes in adjacent waters.

The 50,000-tonne carrier was built in Shandong province at the northern port of Dalian, where the country’s other purchased aircraft carrier is berthed. The decision to formally commission and base the Shandong at a major facility on the coast of the South China Sea signals Beijing’s future intentions, namely deployment of ever-larger and more advanced warships to the contested waterway.

Currently, China is the only South China Sea claimant state with an aircraft carrier, giving it an extra edge over smaller rivals such as Vietnam and the Philippines. China has also now joined an exclusive club of nations, namely the US, UK and Italy, which have more than one aircraft carrier in operation, underscoring its emergence as a major global naval power.

China now boasts the world’s second biggest maritime fleet and largest naval fleet, meaning it now has more warships than the US.

In the past decade, China has deployed among the world’s largest frigates (Type 055), the largest coast guard vessels, a new generation of nuclear-powered submarines and an armada of para-military and coast guard forces roaming adjacent waters with what critics view as growing impunity.

In the coming decades, China is expected to deploy as many as six aircraft carriers to regional and international waters. A third, larger and more advanced domestically built version is reportedly under construction at the Jiangnan shipyard outside Shanghai.

The Shandong draws heavily on the design of the Soviet-built Liaoning, the country’s first aircraft carrier based on a retrofitted Ukrainian ship acquired in 1998.

Unlike America’s nuclear-powered carriers, China’s existing carriers are relatively small and have more rudimentary, Soviet-era features. They are only capable of launching between 20-40 aircrafts, less than half the number of its US counterparts, which have more powerful and advanced catapult launch technology……more here

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