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China’s second aircraft carrier, its deck lined in red flags, launched in Dalian, China on 26 April 2017 [Xinhua]
The new carrier was transferred from dry dock into the water at a launch ceremony in Dalian shipyard of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corp.
Construction of The Shandong, named after a province in China’s east coast, began in 2014.
Beijing could build multiple aircraft carriers over the next 15 years, the Pentagon said in a 2015 report.
The country’s first aircraft carrier, the Soviet-built Liaoning, was bought in 1998 and refitted in China.
The Liaoning was put into commission in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy in 2012.
“The Chinese fleet will cruise to the Eastern Pacific sooner or later. When China’s aircraft carrier fleet appears in offshore areas of the US one day, it will trigger intense thinking about maritime rules,” the influential Chinese state-run daily Global Times said in an editorial in December.
In recent months, Beijing has been irked by US naval patrols near islands that China claims in the South China Sea.
The new vessel is widely seen as part of China’s push to expand its naval capacity.
TBP and Agencies
