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South China Sea
This Week in AsiaPolitics

China’s new aircraft carrier signals to Philippines ‘capability to fight in air and at sea’

  • The Fujian aircraft carrier’s maiden mission has been deliberately timed to coincide with US-Philippines military drills, analysts say
  • But they caution that the current combined carrier fleet of the US and Japanese navies would make it ‘suicidal’ for China to try and take them on

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A Chinese national flag flutters near China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian. Photo: AP
Jeoffrey Maitem
The Philippines should be alert to the “potent challenge” posed by China’s latest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, as security analysts warn that Beijing’s flexing of its naval muscles is a “message to all parties” that it is prepared for air and sea warfare in the region’s contentious waters.
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While it would be “suicidal” for the Chinese navy to take on the combined fleets of Japan – which recently rolled out its newly converted carrier the Kaga – and the United States, lesser powers such as the Philippines should nonetheless be on guard as the regional naval race intensifies, analysts said.
Last Wednesday, the Fujian, an 80,000-tonne Type 003 class vessel, sailed from Jiangnan shipyard in Shanghai on a test mission. Unlike the Chinese navy’s two active carriers – the 66,000-tonne Shandong and the 60,000-tonne Liaoning, both of which use a ski-jump-style aircraft launch platform – the Fujian is equipped with electromagnetic catapults that can deploy fighters more frequently.

China aims to have six aircraft carriers by the end of 2035, making it the world’s second-largest blue-water navy after the US, which currently has an 11-strong carrier fleet.

Rommel Banlaoi, director of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, told This Week in Asia that the Fujian possessed strong air and sea capabilities.

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“The sailing of China’s third aircraft carrier signals to all parties in the South China Sea that Beijing is prepared for battle,” Banlaoi said. “But it can also contribute to peace and stability in the South China Sea if aircraft carriers can be used for peaceful purposes.”
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