China building second aircraft carrier: Official
China is building a second aircraft carrier in a move to boost Beijing's maritime power, a media report says.
Beijing has “accumulated a lot of experience” from the first vessel and has now taken the “next step”, Chinese media quoted senior colonel and professor at the National Defense University of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), Liang Fang, as saying.
A second carrier would mark a significant upgrade to China’s current Liaoning carrier, a refurbished Soviet-era ship that Beijing acquired from Ukraine.
“The reason we imported the first aircraft carrier is so that we could be capable of building our own in the future,” the official said, adding, “And now, just like what some media have revealed, that is what we have done -- built the second aircraft carrier.”
Her statements follow recent reports from senior PLA officers on the building of the vessel.
Chinese officials sporadically report – and oftentimes delete – news of a second domestically built aircraft carrier.
Tensions in the South China Sea
The announcement comes as China and some of its neighbors have been involved in bitter territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Beijing claims the South China Sea in its entirety, while other countries, including the Philippines, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam also have claims to the area and are in dispute with China.
China also accuses the United States of meddling in the regional issues and deliberately stirring up tensions in the South China Sea.
This is while last month, Director of US National Intelligence James Clapper (picture below) accused China of expanding its outposts in the South China Sea in an “aggressive” effort to exert sovereignty.
US concern over China's military expansion
US military officials have recently expressed concern over China's growing military, which will reportedly receive a double-digit spending boost during 2015.
China will add multiple aircraft carriers to its list of vessels over the next decade, US military experts said.
Beijing’s “blue-water navy” may be capable of sustained operations across oceans and projecting power far from home, according to US naval commanders.
The United States military has for several years expressed concern that Washington might be losing its military superiority in areas such as fighter jets, missile systems and cyber warfare in the coming years.
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