China on Wednesday launched its first domestically-built aircraft carrier, boosting its blue-water naval capabilities amidst the Communist giant flexing its muscles in the strategic South China Sea and growing regional tension over nuclear-armed North Korea.
The 50,000-tonne new aircraft carrier, which will join an existing one bought from Ukraine in 1998, was transferred from a dry dock into the water at a launch ceremony in northeast Dalian shipyard of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC) amid streamers and champagne.The as-yet unnamed vessel was towed from Dalian Shipyard, Liaon-ing, to a nearby wharf, China’s Ministry of National Defence said.
The launch came three days after the 68th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army Navy on Sunday, and against the backdrop of a rising China’s efforts to beef up its navy to project the wor-ld’s second largest economy’s growing clout abroad. The carrier is touted to be a significant upgrade from the ‘Liaoning’, which was built more than 25 years ago and is a refurbished Soviet ship bought from Ukraine.
After the launch, the new carrier will undergo equipment debugging, outfitting and comprehensive mooring trials, the defence ministry said.A blue-water navy is a maritime force capable of operating globally across the deep waters of open oceans.
