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China launches its
first aircraft carrier
SYMBOLIC SHIP: Former deputy defense minister
Lin Chong-pin said the addition of the carrier showed that Taiwan¡¦s missiles
would be ¡¥mosquitos biting an elephant¡¦
Staff Writer, with CNA and Reuters, BEIJING
China¡¦s first aircraft carrier is
seen at its shipyard at Dalian Port in Liaoning Province in a still image taken
from a video dated July 27.
Photo: Reuters
The Ministry of National Defense said
yesterday it was closely monitoring the launch of China¡¦s first aircraft carrier
and China¡¦s carrier development program, while Taiwanese observers described the
milestone for China¡¦s navy as mostly symbolic.
The Varyag ¡§left its shipyard in Dalian Port in northeast Liaoning Province on
Wednesday morning to start its first sea trial,¡¨ Xinhua news agency reported,
describing the trip as a tentative test run for the unfinished ship.
The aircraft carrier, which is about 300m long, ploughed through fog and sounded
its horn three times as it left the dock, Xinhua said on its military news
microblog.
Ministry spokesman David Lo (ù²Ð©M) said the ministry has consistently kept close
tabs on China¡¦s aircraft carrier development project and all related activities.
¡§We will continue to collect more information about all follow-up developments,¡¨
Lo said.
Former deputy defense minister Lin Chong-pin (ªL¤¤Ùy) said there were three primary
reasons why China is developing aircraft carriers.
The first, it is economical, to protect Chinese oil tankers passing through the
Indian Sea. Second, it is militaristic diplomacy to form a navy fleet by
combining the army, navy and air force. Third and most importantly, it is to
project itself as a major power and to protect nationalist sentiment, at the
same time satisfying the emotional needs of the people.
Rather than being able to convey actual military might, the Varyag should be
seen as a psychological symbol of a strengthening Chinese identity, Lin said,
adding that Beijing did not intend to use the Varyag against Taiwan as ¡§there is
no need.¡¨
Lin said the addition of the aircraft carrier, along with other
Chinese-developed vessels including destroyers, cruisers and submarines, as well
as China¡¦s jet fighters and missiles, meant that Taiwan¡¦s Hsiung Feng (¡§Brave
Wind¡¨) III anti-ship missiles and its other cruise missiles would be like
¡§mosquitos biting an elephant¡¨ should conflict ever break out in the Taiwan
Strait.
The Chinese Communist Party knows the steep price of resorting to a military
solution to the cross-strait issue and although ¡§they have not abandoned the
thought, they are not prioritizing it,¡¨ Lin said, adding that China is instead
resorting to using non-military means of coercion.
The military impact of the Varyag¡¦s trial run on Taiwan in the short term is
very small, but in the long term, it symbolizes the strengthening of Chinese
military arsenal, he added.
If one day the two governments enter into political negotiations, Taiwan would
be ¡§half a head shorter¡¨ the moment they were seated at the table because
¡§negotiation isn¡¦t just bandying words, it also depends on the hard power each
has,¡¨ Lin said, adding that Taiwan would have a weaker set of chips to bargain
with.
Arthur Ding (¤B¾ð½d), director of National Chengchi University¡¦s International
Relations Institute, said the Varyag¡¦s trial was symbolic.
¡§The sea trial was launched mainly to satisfy the 1.3 billion Chinese people¡¦s
expectations of the progress their country is making on aircraft carrier
development,¡¨ Ding said.
Xinhua said ¡§building a strong navy that is commensurate with China¡¦s rising
status is a necessary step and an inevitable choice for the country to safeguard
its increasingly globalized national interests.¡¨
Retired Chinese Navy Rear Admiral Yin Zhuo (¤¨¨ô) told state-run television that
his country intended to build an air carrier group, but the task would be long
and difficult.
¡§As for forming a carrier group, I think that will take at least 10 years,¡¨ he
told a Chinese television broadcast on the carrier launch.
If Beijing is serious about having a viable carrier strike group it would need
three carriers, Ashley Townshend at the Lowy Institute for International Policy
in Sydney said in an interview before the debut of the vessel.
China would also have to develop support ships and aircraft for any carrier
group, Townshend said.
¡§A single, solitary aircraft carrier floating on the sea without the
accompanying forces doesn¡¦t constitute a battle force,¡¨ said Ni Lexiong (Ù¼Ö¶¯),
an expert on Chinese maritime policy at the Shanghai University of Political
Science and Law. ¡§It would be a sitting duck if you tried to send it out.¡¨
TRANSLATED BY JAKE CHUNG, STAFF WRITER
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