China Working to Counter US Naval Power in the Pacific

SHASH2K2

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China's growing military capabilities are raising concerns in the United States and among its neighbors.

The U.S. Department of Defense says China is developing a ballistic missile that can hit aircraft carriers more than 1,500 kilometers away.

That program is in addition to the country's already extensive missile defense system, which includes more than one thousand missiles pointed at Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory.

In addition, the Pentagon says China is working to build its first aircraft carrier, which would put it in a small group of nations able to project power well into international waters.

Need for a deterrent

While Chinese government officials say little about defense plans, some Asia security experts think there are two major reasons for its missile and carrier programs.

One is Taiwan - which has been separately governed since Nationalist forces fled there in 1949, after losing the country's civil war. China has threatened to use force to regain control if Taiwan declares independence. The United States has said it will help the island defend itself from an attack.

Wu Xinbo is an international relations professor at Shanghai's Fudan University.

Wu says if there were a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait, China needs a deterrent to prevent a U.S. aircraft carrier from entering the area to, in his words, "interfere with the Chinese handling of the situation."

Wu says China wants to build an aircraft carrier largely to defend international shipping lanes, which Beijing considers crucial to its export-driven economy.

Denny Roy is a senior fellow at the East-West Center in Hawaii. He says he is not surprised that the Chinese would develop a long-range ballistic missile to protect what it considers its interests.

"The Chinese have long had particular expertise in missile development, so it is natural that they would rely on this as a way of countering U.S. strength. It is much easier for the Chinese to build an anti-aircraft carrier missile than building an aircraft carrier battle group." Roy said.

China ramping up investment in nuclear weapons

China was ramping up investment in nuclear weapons, long-range missiles, submarines, aircraft carriers and cyber warfare, and building up a force that could strike as far as the US territory of Guam.

The U.S. and other countries have questioned Beijing's need for either a carrier or new missiles because, they say, there currently are no real threats to China's interests. But Wu says there is also one basic reason for doing so now - money.

Wu says it was not possible for China to build an aircraft carrier before, but now China's economic boom has given the country the means to work on one.

James Nolt is a senior fellow who specializes in U.S.-East Asia relations at the World Policy Institute in New York. Since 2007, he has lived in Nanjing, China, as the head of the New York Institute of Technology's Nanjing campus.

Nolt says even if China builds its own aircraft carrier, it will be decades behind the United States in operational know-how and in numbers.

"The ability to develop an effective carrier, it involves a lot of technology and a lot of training, and operational capabilities, that it might take China many years to develop," Nolt says, "if they chose to do so. Even if they had an aircraft carrier, one aircraft carrier would not be significant."

Nolt points out that even with its missile programs and plans for a carrier, China's military capabilities lag behind those of the United States. "They talk about China without comparing it to the U.S. in any systematic way, which if they did, it would be very easy to see that China's power is vastly smaller in many areas and its capabilities are vastly limited compared to the U.S.," he said.

But China's neighbors, including Southeast Asian nations that dispute Beijing's claims to scores of small, uninhabited islands in the South China Sea, have quietly expressed concern about its military buildup.

Pentagon report rejected

U.S. officials say they do not know the extent of China's military power. They repeatedly have called for greater Chinese transparency on its military capabilities and intentions.

The East-West Center's Roy says China may want to preserve some secrecy because it sees itself as the weaker power.

"China, seeing itself as being much inferior to the U.S. military at the moment, believes that it's quite unreasonable for the United States to ask for a large degree of transparency in Chinese military development, because from the Chinese point of view, they need to hide their weaknesses from the United States," Roy said.

Beijing rejected the latest Pentagon report and says it exaggerates what it calls "China's normal national defense and military build-up." The Defense Ministry has given no specific information about its progress in building a missile that can strike aircraft carriers.

Shortly after the Pentagon report was released, though, a leading Chinese newspaper, The Global Times, published an editorial calling on China to have an anti-ship ballistic missile and other so-called "carrier-killing measures." The editorial said China must build what it described as "a credible deterrence" to counter U.S. naval power in the Pacific Ocean.

At the same time, Beijing has grown increasingly vocal in recent months in demanding that U.S. ships stay away from wide areas of ocean - covering much of the Yellow, East and South China seas - where it claims sovereignty.

China Working to Counter US Naval Power in the Pacific | News | English
 

SHASH2K2

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Mystery Chinese SSK fuels Asia's submarine race

The China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation has launched an unidentified new-type conventional submarine (SSK) at its Wuhan shipyard, according to Chinese reports.

It is the third new SSK design revealed by China since 1994 and is likely to exacerbate regional anxieties that are propelling many Asian states to increase or establish submarine fleets.

Vague or altered internet images of this new SSK, which first appeared on the popular Chinese CALF web page on 10 September, led observers to think that it may be yet another Chinese internet hoax, but the submarine's existence was confirmed by much clearer images on 13 September.

While not much larger than the 3,000- to 4,000-ton Type 041 Yuan class, the new boat appears to incorporate Russian design influences, including a stouter hull with a reduced aft taper similar to the Project 667 Lada/Amur class, plus an elongated sail and hull-mounted retractable hydroplanes similar to the Project 636 Kilo class. However, in contrast to the sail of the Kilo, the new Chinese SSK incorporates hydrodynamic elements such as an intricately-faired leading edge with concave and convex curves.
 
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Japan militirization is coming and with it the end of Chinese hegemony.
 
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SHASH2K2

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I agree with you LF and I am Loving it . Parapapapapapa Yuhooooooooooo.
 
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I agree with you LF and I am Loving it . Parapapapapapa Yuhooooooooooo.
China is not considered a blue water navy and they are thinking of countering USA which has been a blue water navy for the past 60+ years?? more delusions of grandeur by China.
 

nrj

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China Working to Counter US Naval Power in the Pacific so that USN can find more funds. :happy_2:
 
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China Working to Counter US Naval Power in the Pacific so that USN can find more funds. :happy_2:
US navy has adequate funding this just a premise for Japanese remilitirization.
 

nimo_cn

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China is not considered a blue water navy and they are thinking of countering USA which has been a blue water navy for the past 60+ years?? more delusions of grandeur by China.
Why is it delusion of grandeur?

It is like someone is pointing a gun at you, you have to fight even if all you have got is a primitive spear.
 

Rahul92

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I agree with LF which don't have a single Aircraft carrier thinks that it can counter those who created them 50 years ago what a dream :emot15::emot15::emot15:
 

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EAST ASIA: CHINA THROWS STRATEGIC CHALLENGES TO THE UNITED STATES IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

By Dr Subhash Kapila

Introductory Observations

Portending the pattern of China's Grand Strategy to banish the United Sates strategically from East Asia in particular and from Asia-Pacific as a whole, China has thrown the first challenge to the United States in the South China Sea. China ever since its emergence as a Communist State in1949 has been laying historical claims to territories it asserts had been wrested from it over the centuries.

China had all along from 1949 had asserted claims to the South China Sea but had put a half- open lid and allowed it to simmer without it blowing over. Suddenly, so it seems, China in the spring of 2010 commenced terming the South China Sea as a "core national interest" articulated as such by Chinese interlocutors with senior US Administration officials. However, China had started ratcheting up tensions on this issue from 2008 onwards.

China placing South China Sea under the category of "core national interest" along with Taiwan, Tibet, and Xingjian clearly indicates that China has placed this issue in the category of "non-negotiable issues" and that China would use force if necessary against any nation disturbing its sovereignty over the South China Sea. This is an assertion which provides a strategic challenge to the United States and of concern to China's neighbors.

This was a marked change from the 1990s when China had endorsed the ASEAN Declaration on peaceful resolution of the islands disputes with a host of ASEAN countries. The United States too then stepped short of taking sides on the legality of the islands disputes but made it clear that it would not countenance any use of force or threat of force to settle the disputes or any obstruction to the free passage of naval and maritime traffic through the South China Sea. Implicit in this declaration was a message to China which dominated the dispute.

Despite the endorsement of the Peace Declaration, China continued its aggressive actions in the South China Sea islands particularly against Vietnam and Philippines. China also maintained that any resolution of the disputes should be done bilaterally and not even in an overall ASEAN context. In other words it was intended to deny the United States any role on these issues.

Defining the South China Sea as a "core national interest" by China in2010 is a game-changer in the East Asia strategic geometry. In one swift stroke, China has changed the overall dimension of the South China Sea disputes from one of islands disputes with East Asia and South East Asian countries to one of a global power play between the United States and China.

In a certain way, this can also be construed as the first shot fired by China towards the inevitability, which one has maintained, of an ultimate conflict between China and the United States for strategic predominance in East Asia.

This Paper intends to examine the following issues related to the theme of this Paper:

· South China Sea : China's and United States Opposing Stances

· China's Strategic Arrogance in Elevating the South China Sea Issue to a Virtual Flashpoint: The Determinants

· United States Stiffens Policy Stance on the South China Sea Issue: Political Signaling to China

· Strategic Lineup in East Asia Favors the United States

South China Sea: China's and United States Opposing Stances

Chinese maps are showing the entire South China Sea from Taiwan to Indonesia as under Chinese sovereignty. In other words the South China Sea in China's policy formulations is virtually an inland sea of China. In July 2010 China declared that it exercises 'indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea'.

China's recent classification of the South China Sea as a "core national interest" akin to Taiwan, Tibet and Xingjian, carries the following strategic implications:

* China is not open to any discussion on its sovereignty claims over the South China Sea and like Tibet would not hesitate to resort to use of force to ensure its sovereignty.
* China would not permit any foreign companies in oil and gas exploration projects in the South China Sea.
* Implied in this assertion of sovereignty over the South China Sea is that China intends to deny the usage of this Sea to the United States and its allies
* If China has her way, it would mean that the operational movements of US Navy Seventh Fleet and other US Navy assets through South China Sea would be restricted

In other words, China wants to push out the United States from the South China Sea Region with multiple strategic objectives in view, and these can be analyzed as under:

* China's naval entry into the Indian Ocean through the South China Sea and so also her growing dependency on the sea-lanes traversing this Sea cannot in future be interfered with by the US Navy and its allies.
* Unravel the United States security architecture in the Western Pacific which presently lies on China's doorsteps extending from South Korea, Japan. Taiwan, Philippines, and now presumably incorporating Vietnam and Indonesia.
* Appropriate to itself the entire energy resources lying embedded over a million square miles of the South China Sea for China's exclusive use and offset her vulnerable dependency on Gulf Region oil supplies.

The United States has not been unaware of China's strategic designs on the South China Sea, and right from the mid-1990s it has been making appropriate declarations to politically signal China that it would not be an idle spectator. Some assertions to this effect are quoted below:

* In a US State Department Declaration of May 1995, adding to advice that China should adhere to the 1992 ASEAN Declaration on the South China Sea, the United States officially asserted and emphasized that " unhindered navigation by all ships and aircraft in the South China Sea is essential for the peace and prosperity of the entire Asia Pacific region, and the United States"

* It further went on to declare that "United States would view with serious concern any maritime claims, or restriction on maritime activity in the South China Sea area that was not consistent with international law including the UN Convention on Law of the Seas."

* In a similar vein, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security asserted in 1995, that "if conflict occurred in the Spratlys ( South China Sea islands claimed by China) the United States would be prepared to provide escorts and ensure that free navigation continued"

* At about the same time or so, one distinctly remembers the US Assistant Secretary of State Winston Lord declaring that the "United States would not be an innocent bystander to use of force by China in the South China Sea" or words to that effect.

A retrospective review of events thereafter would indicate that China paid no heed to these United States policy declarations and continued with its "creeping aggression" in the South China Sea.

Belatedly, in 2010, it finally dawned on the United States policy establishment that China was endangering United States forward military presence in the Western Pacific and fresh assertions were required to be made by the United States on the issue.

Since these are of recent memory they need not be reproduced verbatim. However, in essence, statements made by the US Secretary of Defense Gates at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in May 2010 and by US Secretary of State Clinton at the ASRF Meeting in Hanoi in July 2010, were unambiguous in making it known that the United States was no longer oblivious to China's destabilizing activities in the South China Sea Region.

The US Secretary of State Clinton's statement in Hanoi was succinct which stated: "The United States has a national interest in freedom of navigation, open access to Asia's maritime commons and respect for International Laws in the South China Sea."

On US Secretary of Defense statements in Singapore in May2010 China reacted by canceling his China visit that was to follow and the Chinese reaction to Secretary of State Clinton's statement was that it amounted to an "attack on China'.

The July 2010 assertions by China that China's sovereignty on South China Sea is indisputable and going further to classify the South China Sea as a "core national interest" seems to be a strategic broadside fired by China against the United States. It is a challenge thrown by China to the United States and it remains to be seen as to how the United States picks the gauntlet.

China's Strategic Arrogance in Elevating the South China Sea Issue to a Virtual Flashpoint: The Determinants

China's strategic arrogance in elevating the South China Sea issue to a virtual flashpoint and a potent one at that, once again reinforces the image of China as a nation having the propensity for conflict and brinkmanship. To the international community it is slowly dawning that China is not going to turn out as a responsible stakeholder in East Asia stability. Further, that China's rise in the global power trajectory is going to be troublesome for the international community and more so to its East Asian neighbors.

Contextually, China may have been prompted by the following major determinants to have become more aggressive in the last two years:

* Strategic vacuum in East Asia resulting from United States being strategically distracted in Afghanistan and Iraq.
* Chinese perception that United States power is declining and that the United States needs China's support in Afghanistan, reining in Pakistan and also Iran.
* China's accelerated military build-up with emphasis on its strategic arsenal, naval capabilities and the air force to levels deterring the United States from any military intervention, and consequently reducing American political and military coercion over China
* United States economic health being directly related to China's fiscal policies
* United States timidity in the last few years against China arising from its strategic commitments in South West Asia
* United States according over-exaggerated importance to China's strategic importance more arising from US policies in relation to Russia.
* United States strategically ambiguous China policies in the recent past

What has really triggered China's current aggressiveness is the perception that the United States belatedly recognizing its strategic inattentiveness to East Asia security, has in the last year or so weaned away South Korea and Philippines from their China-leanings and reassured Japan. The United States has also moved closer to Vietnam. In China's perceptions, therefore, the United States has virtually drawn a 'ring of containment' around China and that China should assert itself before that noose is firmly drawn by the United States.

United States Stiffens Policy Stance on the South China Sea Issue: Political Signaling to China

The United States stiffening of policy stances on the South China Sea marks a defining shift in United States Asian and China policies. The assertions by US Defense Secretary in Singapore and the US Secretary of State in Hanoi are reflective of this.

China seems to have pushed the United States a bit too far in East Asia impinging on United States image and political and strategic standing by aggressive acts not only against Japan and South Korea but directly against the United States too.

In the South China Sea ever since 2008, China has been provocatively 'buzzing' United States naval ships and aircraft on surveillance duties in international waters.

China's record of behavior in 2010 overall has been downright aggressive from the East China Sea sinking of South Korea Navy ship by a North Korean submarine, warning the US not to conduct joint exercises in the East China Sea, the coercion of Japan over the arrest of a Chinese trawler captain which deliberately rammed into a Japanese Coast Guard ship and warning US oil giant companies from prospecting in the South China Sea Also related contextually is China's accelerated supply of fighter aircraft and frigates to Pakistan and its obtrusive military presence in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

That United States-China relations on the downslide was analyzed in detail by this author in his Paper "United States-China Relations on the Downslide" (SAAG Paper No3860 dated 14 June 2010) and need to be read to grasp the context of the showdown in the South China Sea.

The United States seems to have sent the following political signals to China through the stiffening of its stance on the South China Sea:

* United States is firmly intent on refurbishing its East Asia security architecture which virtually stood neglected by the US in this decade..
* United States will henceforth adopt a more pro-active role or a more intrusive role in South East Asia after having let China succeed in establishing a substantial presence in that region by using its 'soft power'
* United States is determined to sustain its strategic predominance in East Asia specifically and in Asia Pacific overall. More to the point, the United States will prevent the rise of China as a hegemonistic power in East Asia

And therein lies the strategic rub for China.

One can safely assert that the United States has stiffened its stances against China prompted by a belated realization that China today was now shifting from exercise of 'soft power' diplomacy to one of exercise of 'hard power' flexing of its new found strategic muscles in East Asia and South East Asia

Strategic Lineup in East Asia Favors the United States


The strategic lineup in East Asia behind the United States scores heavily over China. Other than North Korea, China is bereft of any substantial allies in the region.

China seems to have been emboldened to adopt intransigent stances in East Asia against the United States with a feeling that lately the East Asian nations were adopting stances independent of United States and vulnerable to Chinese coercion

The charges presently being made by China that the United States by its new stances on South China Sea is following a policy of 'divide and rule' applies more to what China was doing all along in the region when the United States was strategically distracted in Afghanistan.

The strategic lineup behind the United States can firm-up only when the United Sates dispenses with the strategic ambiguities in its 'China policies' followed so far. All the nations in the US line-up are fearful of China and welcome the forward military presence of the United States. However, all of them have the expectation that the United Sates does not 'waver' as a result of its propensity to indulge in 'hedging strategies' against China.

Concluding Observations

China has finally thrown a strategic challenge to the United States in East Asia over the South China Sea issue. It was long in coming as the United States was permissive of China's exercise of 'soft power' in the region while China kept building up its 'hard power' facilitated by United States economic investments in China.

The United States needs to call China's bluff this time in its policy of intense brinkmanship. China can hardly afford to enter into any armed conflict with the United States over the South China Sea issue.

In this connection, it is worth quoting views of the eminent American media personality, Robert Kaplan on the subject:

"The roadside bombers in Iraq showed us the low- end of asymmetry. What China is showing now is the high-end of asymmetry, far more subtle, not designed to get into war with the United States, but to deny us access to the South China Sea. And the really hot areas in the coming years and decades, is going to be the South China Sea."

The United States would be well advised not to lose its "strategic will" in the strategic mind-games that China will resort to against the United States in pursuance of its Grand Strategy to banish the United States from the Western Pacific.





EAST ASIA: China Throws Strategic Challenges to The United States in the South China Sea
 

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Has China Built a New Stealth Submarine?


BY:English.chosun.com

China's neighbors are worried that the People's Republic may already have produced a stealth submarine, the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong reported Sunday.



Three weeks ago, photos of a new submarine built at a Chinese naval shipyard in Wuhan failed to draw much attention when they were posted on several websites. But that changed last week when the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation disclosed that the Wuhan shipyard had built a new submarine, as well as more details of the craft.

China has not yet officially announced that this is a stealth sub, but neighboring countries have become nervous as military experts say that is what it is, the paper claimed.

"The talk in our community is that we are seeing the first signs of a completed new design," the daily quoted one Asian military expert as saying. "The question is "¦ just how quiet have they been able to make it? Stealth is everything when it comes to submarines and at some point China is going to finally crack it."It also quoted the People's Liberation Army Daily as saying Da Liang Long, a professor at the PLA Navy's Submarine Academy, won an award from the Central military Commission for his "considerable" work on submarine stealth technology.

"Naval officials in the region say encounters between submarines are increasing. Such encounters will become more frequent as countries such as Japan, Korea, Australia, Vietnam and Indonesia expand and update their submarine fleets in the face of China's rising military strength. The PLA will soon have more submarines than the United States Navy," the daily added.





http://idrw.org/?p=876
 
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Patriot

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Aircraft carrier plan highlights China's naval ambitions

The new generation of combat aircraft China proudly showed off at the Zhuhai Air Show in the country's south this week could soon be taking off from a prestigious runway: an aircraft carrier.

Beijing has become increasingly assertive in its ambitions on the high seas -- as demonstrated by recent tensions with old rival Japan -- but still lacks this naval centrepiece.

This looks set to change.

Although it has not officially announced as much, China is working on a carrier and Western experts believe it could be launched as early as next year, though not in a fully operational state.

It is a former Soviet aircraft carrier called the Varyag, currently being refurbished in the port city of Dalian in northeast China.

Rick Fisher, a Chinese military expert at the International Assessment and Strategy Centre in the United States, told AFP the Pentagon estimates China's carrier will start operations by 2015.

"This is a reasonable projection. China could have enough of the carrier air wing flying by that time to start developing carrier operating procedures and fighting tactics," he said.

Fisher said that Chinese leaks to media in Hong Kong and Japan last year indicated that Beijing plans a five-strong carrier fleet, including two nuclear-powered vessels.

Arthur Ding, an expert on the People's Liberation Army, which operates the country's navy, said owning an aircraft carrier is a prestige issue for China, whose 2.3-million-strong military is already the world's largest.

This is particularly so when neighbours -- and rivals -- including Japan and India are already equipped with them, said Ding, of National Chengchi University in Taiwan.


A former Soviet carrier's Chinese odyssey
Beijing (AFP) Nov 18, 2010 - Foreign military experts believe a 300-metre-long vessel being refurbished in the northeastern Chinese port of Dalian is destined to sail as the country's first aircraft carrier. The Varyag, a Kuznetsov-class carrier originally built in the USSR for the Soviet navy, has had a decidedly inglorious history. Construction began at a Ukrainian shipyard in the mid-1980s, but was interrupted by the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 1998 its immense armoured hull, with no engine, electrics or propeller, was bought at auction by a company in Hong Kong -- believed by many to have been a Chinese front -- which said it wanted to turn it into a floating casino in Macau. Towing the Varyag from Ukraine's Black Sea coast to China proved to be an odyssey in itself.

Turkey opposed the ship's passage through its waters for months, and the vessel did not arrive in China until March 2002, after more than 600 days at sea. The ship's military purpose soon came into focus when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) began a full refit, complete with landing platform. "Internet source photos regularly reveal an increasing tempo of work on the Varyag," said Richard Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center. "The island (control tower) of the Varyag is being much modified and a new Chinese phased array radar system likely has just been installed. "We know little about its engine but it appears that work has been proceeding on that as well. It could be moving on its own by 2011 or 2012."
But there is a second, practical reason, he added.

"As China's interests expand globally, the Chinese navy needs to go further outbound, and an aircraft carrier is needed," he said.

China has a nuclear arsenal and the world's second-largest defence budget after the United States -- although experts believe China spends more than it reveals -- but its military capabilities beyond its borders are limited.

As a tool for projecting power, the aircraft carrier is unsurpassed.

"When word of crisis breaks out in Washington, it's no accident the first question that comes to everyone's lips is: where is the nearest carrier?" former US president Bill Clinton once said.

Some Western experts believe the Varyag could be more useful to the Chinese as a means of learning carrier technology than as a naval tool in its own right.

China's defence ministry declined comment on the warship's future role when questioned by AFP.

China has a problem accessing the Pacific Ocean, as it lies beyond an arc of rival powers: South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, as well as US bases.

Beijing, envious of Washington's naval dominance, has reacted with resentment to recent US manoeuvres in the China Sea and Yellow Sea, which it considers its backyard. The presence of US carriers compounded the insult.

Fisher said that while China seeks to "cover its growing iron fist in the velvet glove of 'soft power'," acquiring carriers is vital for China's strategic vision.

"China seeks to become a global superpower capable of defending its increasingly international political-economic interests with greater levels of military might," he said.

"Building a fleet of aircraft carriers will be essential to this goal."

China cultivates the image of a country that arms itself solely for self-defence and has no interest in becoming a dominant power.

Developing aircraft carriers could tarnish that image.

Ding said that is why Beijing has been coy about its plans -- it worries the carrier will feed fears about China's rise.

But Chinese enthusiasm for carriers is not confined to the military headquarters. The population seems to be strongly behind building them as standard-bearers for national pride.

A poll by China's state media found 98 percent of people think it is time the nation had an aircraft carrier, and 71 percent think at least four are needed.

The fortnightly Chinese magazine "Modern Ships" launched a design competition for carriers in 2007 and still receives impassioned contributions, according to deputy editor Cui Yiliang.

"Most Chinese people think the navy's abilities do not match the country's needs," he said.





http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Aircraft_carrier_plan_highlights_Chinas_naval_ambitions_999.html
 

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