China's first aircraft carrier starts sea trials

Aug 10, 2011, 11:18 GMT

Beijing - China's first aircraft carrier left its shipyard in the northeastern province of Liaoning early Wednesday for its maiden sea trial, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The vessel, refitted from a hull bought from Ukraine, was destined for 'technical research, experiments and training,' the Defence Ministry said last month.

China is building two more medium-sized and conventionally powered aircraft carriers in Shanghai, according to unconfirmed but widely circulated reports.

The authorities have denied such reports, but have defended the country's right in principle to operate such vessels.

'China is the only one of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council not to have an aircraft carrier,' Xu Guangyu, retired general and senior researcher at the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, told the German Press Agency dpa in a July interview.

'For a country, it is a symbol of ability and power. For the army, it has deterrence. For China, it is a kind of defensive deterrence,' Xu said.

The development comes at a time when China's military investment is rocketing, amid increasing regional tensions, in particular over resource-rich territories in the South China Sea.

In a commentary on Wednesday's launch, Xinhua quoted unidentified military sources as saying the carrier was 'vital to China, as the country has vast territorial waters, which induces (the) grave responsibility of protection.'

The commentary noted that the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, India, Thailand and Brazil all operated aircraft carriers.

'China, with long and busy sea lanes to secure for the flow of materials and manufactured goods in and out of the country, is entitled to a modernized fleet,' it said.

It said the development of aircraft carriers 'will not change the defensive nature of the country's national defence policy or the country's independent foreign policy of peace.'

'There should be no excessive worries or paranoid feelings on China' s pursuit of an aircraft carrier, as it will not pose a threat to other countries,' the commentary said.