Fujian Aircraft Carrier - Relations between the United States and China seem to be getting frostier by the day. For its part, Washington has made a series of policy choices over the last few years that can be summed up...Show more up as tough on Beijing, even seeking to contain the rise of the world's second-biggest economy.
Is the Biden administration's China policy too hawkish? And how might that be impacting the world? Jessica Chen Weiss, formerly a senior advisor for policy planning at the State Department under the Biden administration, makes the case that the United States is becoming consumed by competition with China, a strategy that could lead to dangerous conflict.
Fujian Aircraft Carrier
Is Weiss correct? Join FP's Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administration's China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. China's state media said the country's latest and most advanced warship was launched "in a short but festive ceremony" on Friday morning at the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) shipyard in Shanghai where it has been under construction since 2018.
Information You Can Trust
It's true that the new Type 003 carrier, now formally named Fujian, is a big improvement on China's first two carriers. Both of those were smaller, which means they carry fewer aircraft. And they featured what's known as a "ski jump," a ramp at the bow of the ship that helps jets take off from the carrier's short runway.
"In the future, they want to directly penetrate to the east of the first island chain, which includes Japan's Ryukyu Islands and the Pacific waters off Taiwan's east," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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So, the Type 003 may not be a direct challenge to American naval power. Rather, it is a sign that China is thinking about an era when the credibility of U.S. power in Asia has further eroded and when China itself has a freer hand to deal with smaller countries.
In other words, China is building a post-American fleet. But that may not be the point. For the United States, aircraft carriers have been useful in the post-Cold War era against countries that were largely defenseless when it comes to naval warfare—Iraq, Libya, and Yugoslavia, for instance.
In fact, the U.S. The Navy has tacitly acknowledged this point by gradually decreasing the range of the combat aircraft it fields aboard its carriers. Why bother with long range if you can safely sail the carrier itself close to enemy shores?
Quite apart from the continued massive difference in fleet size and capability, we should also think twice about framing China's carrier fleet as a direct challenge to the United States. A confrontation between surface fleets centered around carriers in the style of the Battle of Midway is a remote prospect.
Submarines and anti-ship missiles are now so potent and omnipresent that aircraft carriers probably wouldn't survive long in a major war. Additionally, it was previously revealed that China allegedly hired Western-trained fighter pilots to train its People's Liberation Army (PLA) pilots.
These actions appear to have been taken to ensure its air force thoroughly understood Western air warfare techniques. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said earlier this week that the Fujian was about to be launched, sharing satellite imagery that showed the dry dock holding the Fujian had been flooded and pennant flags strung along the ship's flight deck.
While it cannot be the only answer, a military counter to China's ambitions is achievable. China itself offers a good model for how smaller countries can protect themselves against seemingly overwhelming naval power. In the first few decades of its military modernization drive, China focused not on how it could dominate the oceans but on how it could stop the United States from dominating.
It built a vast array of anti-ship capabilities for that purpose: submarines, aircraft armed with sea-skimming missiles, small high-speed naval vessels that "shoot and scoot" before an enemy can respond, and even ballistic missiles that can hit ships
moving at sea—and that are almost impossible to defend against. Yet China cannot hope to dominate maritime Asia with aircraft carriers alone. The Pacific is vast, and even China's resources will be thinly spread. Beijing will need foreign bases to improve surveillance of the region and reduce transit time for its aircraft and warships.
The Washington Post recently reported that China is building a naval facility in Cambodia. Beijing also signed a security agreement with the small Pacific nation of Solomon Islands, which Australia worries is a precursor to a much more expansive Chinese military presence in a region Canberra regards as its sphere of influence.
China's launch of a new aircraft carrier, its third and the second built entirely at home, speaks to Beijing's ambitions to become a military power of global standing and reach. And it suggests that China is prepared to compete with the United States on what has long been Washington's strongest territory.
U.S. military dominance, particularly in Asia, is built on maritime power, which in turn is built around its carrier fleet. Now China is offering a direct challenge: Anything you can do, we can do bigger and better.
The ski jump imposes big constraints on the size, weight, and payload of the aircraft being launched, which is why the United States has always preferred steam-driven catapults to hurl aircraft off the ship at high speed.
The Type 003 will use catapults, too, and they will be a more advanced electromagnetic design rather than steam-powered. This catches China up to the very latest U.S. technology, so far seen only on the new USS Gerald Ford.
On a smaller scale, that model of self-defense is viable for other countries against China's growing surface fleet. Just as the Chinese military made it too dangerous for the United States to operate its carriers close to China, so too can smaller powers in Asia build a maritime strategy focused on negation, with an emphasis on anti-ship missiles, submarines, naval mines,
and other weapons that will inhibit the free movement of China's fleet. The report stated that either ship maintenance or scheduling issues caused the delay. It did not, however, specify the deadline for the evaluation. According to the article, Vice-Captain Wang Yubing is merely one of several navy personnel whose training has been postponed.
Since mid-December, the Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier, and the ships that escort it have been engaging in training drills in the western Pacific. On December 30, it was seen sailing close to the US territory of Guam.
It's true that the new Type 003 carrier, now formally named Fujian, is a big improvement on China's first two carriers. Both of those were smaller, which means they carry fewer aircraft. And they featured what's known as a "ski jump," a ramp at the bow of the ship that helps jets take off from the carrier's short runway.
China's launch of a new aircraft carrier, its third and the second built entirely at home, speaks to Beijing's ambitions to become a military power of global standing and reach. And it suggests that China is prepared to compete with the United States on what has long been Washington's strongest territory.
U.S. military dominance, particularly in Asia, is built on maritime power, which in turn is built around its carrier fleet. Now China is offering a direct challenge: Anything you can do, we can do bigger and better.
However, it seems that the modernization of the PLA Navy has produced substantial operational challenges. The People's Liberation Army's official newspaper, PLA Daily, recently acknowledged that the military lacks the trained personnel to handle cutting-edge weaponry.
The Fujian and a fourth carrier, which is also under construction, are larger and able to carry more aircraft than the two existing vessels. The South China Morning Post reported in March last year that the fourth carrier might be nuclear-powered.
It would be too costly and risky to stop China from becoming the leading maritime power in Asia, but with smart investment, smaller countries can certainly erode the coercive potential of the Chinese fleet and stop Beijing from becoming the dominant power.
Carriers are a sign of Chinese power—but that doesn't mean Beijing has to rule the waves. Analysis: China's Third Aircraft Carrier Is Aimed at a Post-U.S. Asia The ship's vice-captain announced the sea trails in a video message released on December 3. Qian Shumin said that China must take charge of all the sea trials-related work in the coming year and help the military achieve its [Two Centenaries] goals.
President Xi mentioned on December 31 that Fujian is anticipated to have a significant presence in the Taiwan Strait. China's third aircraft carrier is comparable to the USS Gerald R. Ford, the only other warship with cutting-edge electromagnetic catapults.
"President Xi [Jinping] specifically mentioned the launch of the Fujian in his New Year's message. As a member of the Fujian ship, we are deeply proud and honored," Qian said, referring to the ship's inclusion on Xi's list of China's triumphs from the previous year.
The launch of the Fujian is part of an ongoing effort to modernize the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLA Navy), which already has two fully-functioning aircraft carriers, the Soviet-era Liaoning and the domestically-built Shandong whose design was based on the
Liaoning. The PLA is thought to have needed at least 200 qualified carrier-based fighter jet pilots to fly 130 ship-borne aircraft. China is confident that the United States and its allies will step in to neutralize a potential conflict involving Taiwan.
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The Fujian is China's first fully domestically developed aircraft carrier, and uses electromagnetic catapults and arresting devices to enable planes to take off and land on its deck, it added. The ship has a displacement of more than 80,000 tons, he added.
Most Asian countries would prefer a future in which China is not the dominant power. But they also recognize that the United States cannot maintain its military edge against a challenger of this scale. So, the first part of any counter to China's rise as a military power is to recognize that it cannot be left to the Americans.
But unlike the Ford and every other serving American carrier, Fujian is not nuclear-powered, which will make it more dependent on support ships to achieve long range and endurance. And then there is the issue of scale.
This is China's first supercarrier, now launched but certainly not finished and still several years from entering service. The United States has 11 supercarriers, each one more powerful than China's first effort. Regional powers such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should also recognize that the response to China's challenge cannot be solely military.
China's basing ambitions in the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia won't be countered with weapons. It must be done with statecraft, a diplomatic and economic effort to ensure that any Chinese ambitions to develop client-state relations in Asia will be permanently frustrated.
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