More Mindboggling China News

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 I know that lately I have been carrying plenty of China stories, especially about their military developments. Do bear with me. There is a method to the madness.  
More news is coming out of China and everyday is more mindboggling than yesterday.

 
Here is a video (you only need to watch the first three minutes) which says that the hull of the FOURTH Chinese aircraft carrier (screenshot above) has already been launched.  Hull means just the shell. Now they will fit in all the equipment, machinery, crews quarters, wiring, weapons, radar etc that might take a year or about there (Chinese speed).



 
Like I have mentioned before the 4th Chinese carrier will be a supership of almost 1,100 feet long and weigh 110,000 tons.  Indications are the 4th carrier will be nuclear powered.



Now here is the more interesting news. This news is actually eight months old already. This news comes from Hong Kong based South China Morning Post or SCMP. The SCMP is a credible newspaper (its definitely not a tabloid or propaganda sheet). This news says that China is now building TWO 110,000 ton super carriers simultaneously, in addition to the 4th carrier.  Surprisingly these two new carriers will have serial numbers 019 and 020.

As I said this is cookie-cutter mass production. Not only is this evidence of China's wealth but of their technology and capacity at churning out such huge ships in double quick time.

 


What is the significance? So what? The significance is really huge. For what purpose will China use all this naval power?
To forcefully retake Taiwan is quite out of the question. You do not reunite with your brothers and sisters by killing them. China does have plans to "reunite" Taiwan by 2050 which is 26 years away. But the Chinese have stated their desire for a peaceful reunification.
I believe China wants all this fire power to help keep the world's sea lanes open for trade. If anyone threatens to close the Straits of Melaka or the Bab el Mandeb (entrance to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, which the Houthis in Yemen have closed down) the Chinese want to have the firepower to keep the sea lanes open. The Chinese are quite paranoid about the Straits of Melaka.

Or if anyone threatens global maritime routes heading back to China - they will have to face China's aircraft carriers.  
The Chinese carriers Liaoning (001), Shandong (002) and Fujian (003) are named after China's coastal provinces. China has 11 coastal provinces. But they already have hull no. 19 and 20. 


 
Chinese coastal provinces from north to south are Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
By Syed Akbar Ali 

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