China Launches Third Military Carrier: Named Province Across Taiwan, Sends Firm Message Of Military Modernization

China's aircraft carrier Fujian. (Twitter/@IFENG__official)

JAKARTA - The Chinese government launched the third aircraft carrier for its military fleet, designed and built entirely in-country, named Fujian, a province located just across from Taiwan, sending a firm message of the country's military modernization.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has made the world's biggest armed forces reshuffle a top part of his agenda, seeking to project power far beyond China's shores, though the government says it has no hostile intentions.

Champagne, colorful streamers, water cannons, and smoke were deployed to celebrate the launch of the new aircraft carrier and its official naming at a ceremony at the Jiangnan shipyard in Shanghai, state media reported.

Dozens of naval personnel lined up in front of the ship and sang the national anthem at a ceremony attended by senior officials, including Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission.

The carrier has a full-length flight deck with catapult launch systems, according to state media, reported Reuters on June 17.

The aircraft carrier Fujian will join the Shandong, which was commissioned in late 2019, and the Liaoning, which China bought from Ukraine in 1998 and reassembled domestically. The last two names are aircraft carriers that have served in the Chinese military environment.

#WATCH The #Fujian (hull 18) is #China's first fully domestically developed aircraft carrier with catapults.

It uses electromagnetic catapults and arresting devices, and has a displacement of more than 80,000 tons.#aircraftcarrier https://t.co/UGNtX9OQEY pic.twitter.com/dLXFB0pIae

— Ifeng News (@IFENG__official) June 17, 2022

China is still honing its ability to operate aircraft carriers, as well as integrate them into battle groups, something the United States has been doing for decades.

So far, the United States is the country with the largest number of aircraft carriers in the world, 11 units. Behind him, there is China with three units, ahead of Britain which 'only' has two aircraft carriers in operation.

The launch of Fujian represents an increase in military capabilities, at a time of increasing tension with the United States over Chinese-claimed Taiwan, as well as Beijing's claims to the South China Sea.

The new aircraft carrier is named after the coastal province of Fujian, just across the Taiwan Strait from Taiwan, and is home to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command.

Separately, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said in a statement sent to Reuters that the new aircraft carrier was "very important" for China's military development.

Taiwan is "incorporating this into the research of the enemy situation in a forward-looking manner, using innovative asymmetric thinking, and actively developing countermeasures to effectively implement the military strategy of defensive tenacity and heavy deterrence", it added.

Taiwan controls two island groups that are geographically part of Fujian and located just off its coast, Kinmen and Matsu, which during the height of the Cold War, were regularly bombarded by China.