China’s president Xi Jinping attended the official launch of a new state-of-the-art aircraft carrier on Wednesday as the country makes moves to rival the US navy.
The Fujian was put into service with a commissioning ceremony at the military port in Sanya, on Hainan Island, the official Xinhua news agency announced on Friday.
The ceremony was attended by 2,000 representatives from the navy and institutions involved in the construction of the aircraft carrier. On the flight deck, new-generation carrier-based aircraft, including the J-35 and J-15T fighter jets and the KongJing-600 early warning aircraft, could be seen parked in sequence.
Joining two other aircraft carriers, China now boasts the second largest number of such ships in the world in an attempt to catch up with the US Navy. The country’s three carriers push it past India, the United Kingdom and Italy, which have two each.
The ship is the country’s most advanced aircraft carrier, with electromagnetic catapult launchers that mark a technological advance to help the navy to project power deep into the Pacific as it seeks to assert power in disputed waters in the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.
The Fujian is China's first domestically designed carrier. Chinese state media reported that Xi had made the decision to adopt the electromagnetic catapult system.
Xi reportedly encouraged carrier-based aircraft pilots to improve their skills and expertise to contribute to the development of the combat capabilities of the Fujian, Xinhua reported.
China has two other aircraft carriers: the Liaoning, was refurbished from an unfinished Soviet ship that Ukraine inherited and later sold to China, while the second, the Shandong, was built in China based on the Liaoning's design.
All three carriers are named after coastal Chinese provinces. The country's three carriers push it past India, the United Kingdom and Italy, which have two each.
