Chinese media confirms navy building second aircraft carrier

BEIJING — China has come its closest yet to confirming that it is building a second aircraft carrier, as Beijing seeks to extend its military reach amid deepening maritime tensions with neighbouring countries.

The People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, quoted top officials as confirming the craft’s construction. The ship is reportedly being built in a shipyard in the north-eastern city of Dalian, where China’s first carrier, the Liaoning, was refitted before going into service in 2012.

Until now the military has tried to keep the second carrier a secret and at least two reports in Chinese media about the ship have been censored.

“I don’t think there is any particular timing ... Information about a new indigenous Chinese aircraft carrier has been dribbling out for years now,” said Mr Richard Bitzinger, senior fellow and coordinator of military transformations programme at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

“I think if this is done on purpose, it’s to soften the blow of any news about it, so when the carrier is finally announced, it won’t cause a huge commotion and backlash.

“Also, in the age of the Internet, it is increasingly difficult to keep secrets about large construction programmes such as a carrier, especially when it takes years to complete such a project.”

Last week, China said its defence budget would rise by a little more than 10 per cent this year, the latest double-digit increase in an almost unbroken streak for the past 20 years, even as economic growth slows. The budget made clear that China will continue to pour money into developing high-tech weapons, as it struggles to assert itself as an emerging superpower.

A wide-ranging reform of the military announced in 2013 included plans to streamline the People’s Liberation Army and emphasise naval and air power in a force that has traditionally been focused on winning land battles.

The officials’ comments on the new carrier first appeared in the Hong Kong Commercial Daily, a Chinese-language newspaper. The report cited Mr Ding Haichun, who was promoted to deputy political commissioner of the PLA’s Navy in January, as confirming the ship was under construction.

Mr Ding could not be reached for comment. China’s defence ministry declined to comment on the reports.

Mr Gary Li, an independent China security analyst, said work on the craft had been an open secret since work was completed on the first one.

Mr Li cautioned that the additional carrier will not change the security picture in the region overnight as it will still be several years before China’s navy is trained to handle them.

“China has to learn from scratch how to conduct carrier operations,” he said. “It could be 10 years before we see anything like a fully formed combat force.”

The new carrier will, if anything, be a “powerful symbol of rising Chinese strength”, said Mr Bitzinger in Singapore. “Few countries possess aircraft carriers and only the United States possesses more than one. On the other hand, having a carrier isn’t the same as being able to operate one effectively.”

Perhaps what is more important about the Chinese carriers is “that they are being matched by equally aggressive building programmes when it comes to frigates, destroyers, and submarines,” Mr Bitzinger added, “and a concerted effort to get these various warships to operate together. Should the Chinese be able to assemble carrier strike groups like the US navy can, then the PLA navy could become a very formidable force in regional waters.”

Officials quoted in the article said the ship has an upgraded launch catapult, a device used on carriers to quickly accelerate aircraft to take-off velocity. No other details were available.

China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was based on a Soviet-era hull purchased from Ukraine in 1999. It entered service in 2012. AGENCIES