BANGKOK (AP) — China has commissioned its latest aircraft carrier after extensive sea trials, state media reported Friday, adding a ship that experts say will help what is already the world’s largest navy expand its power farther beyond its own waters.
The official Xinhua news agency reported Friday that the Fujian was commissioned in Sanya on Hainan island on Wednesday in a ceremony attended by top leader Xi Jinping.
The Fujian is China’s third carrier and the first that it both designed and built itself. It is perhaps the most visible example so far of leader Xi Jinping’s massive military overhaul and expansion that aims to have a modernized force by 2035 and one that is “world class” by mid century — which most take to mean capable of going toe-to-toe with the United States.
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With it, Beijing takes another step toward closing the gap with the U.S. Navy and its carrier fleet and network of bases that allow it to maintain a presence around the world.
“Carriers are key to Chinese leadership’s vision of China as a great power with a blue-water navy,” or one that can project power far from its coastal waters, said Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
