"GREEN HAND"
The ship, formerly named Varyag, is an Admiral Kuznetsov Class aircraft carrier that is 304.5 meters long and 37 meters wide, with a displacement of 58,500 metric tons. Construction on the vessel was started by the Soviet Union in 1985. It was completed in 1992 except for its electronic components.
After the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, Ukraine took over the ship. In 1998, the vessel was bought by a Macao casino company in open bidding. Since March 2002, it has quietly berthed in the port of Dalian with its hull and deck painted PLA Navy grey. After arriving in Dalian, images of the ship were spread across the Internet.
The Chinese Defense Ministry responded slowly to speculation about China having an aircraft carrier despite widespread dissemination of snapshots of the ship. On July 27, the Ministry confirmed China's aircraft carrier program, while emphasizing the carrier was only intended for "scientific research, experiment and training."
Currently, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Spain, Italy, India, Brazil and Thailand, operate a total of 21 active-service aircraft carriers.
Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force currently has two 18,000-metric ton Hyuga-class helicopter carriers, although the warships are classified by Japan as "helicopter destroyers."
Compared with countries who had decades of experience of operating aircraft carriers, China is really a green hand, said Cao Weidong, a researcher with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's Academic Research Institute.
Naval strategist Yin Zhuo said in an interview with Xinhua, "It usually takes at least ten years to build up a strike group centered on an aircraft carrier, which is just an initial step for shaping marine defense capacity."
Senior Colonel Chen Zhou, a war theorist working for a key PLA think tank, said he didn't believe development of aircraft carrier battle groups means China is making a shift in its naval strategy from offshore defense to anywhere else.
"Even well before the unveiling of the first aircraft carrier," Chen said, "China did not hide its intention to improve its navy, which is still quite weak in defense capability."
