Regional tension

China's first aircraft carrier set sail on its maiden voyage from the northern port of Dalian on Wednesday. The ancient Soviet vessel is over 300 meters long and can accommodate a 300-member strong crew.

The empty hull, which has now been retrofitted, was allegedly bought from the Ukrainian navy in 1998 - with no engine, electrics or propeller. The Varyag was only 70 percent completed when the Soviet Union collapsed, and was left to float in Ukrainian waters for years.

China has spent years retrofitting it in Dalian. According to Chinese media reports, the warship has enough space for 30 fighter jets and helicopters.

However, no aircraft will be launched from the ramp in the near future. The ship, which still does not have a name, needs more work and is not yet equipped with arresting gear.

Symbolic significance

"Its symbolic significance outweighs its practical significance," Ni Lexiong, an expert on Chinese maritime policy at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"We're already a maritime power, and so we need an appropriate force, whether that's aircraft carriers or battleships, just like the United States or the British Empire did," he added.

Eleven countries in the world currently have aircraft carriers - in Asia, these are India, Japan, Thailand and South Korea, alongside China.

Lin Chong-pin, Professor of International Studies at Tamkang University in Taiwan, thinks China is pursuing three goals by developing its own aircraft carrier. "Protecting sea routes for Chinese cargo ships, expanding the fleet," and raising its national confidence.

"Presumably the aircraft carrier will be used within China to demonstrate a feeling of its invulnerability and strength," agrees Bernt Berger from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Berger adds that the unrest within the Communist Party and increased social tension are currently more important to the government than foreign and defense policy.

And although he does not think the ship, which it must be said is old, will be used as part of a clear military strategy in the region, he does suspect Beijing might try to develop technologies with its help, especially since "China cannot buy many technologies because of trade barriers."

Suspicion on part of the neighbors

China's regional neighbors are not so sure. They are not taken in by Beijing's repeated assurances that the carrier will be used mainly for training and research and will not change the country's defensive military policy.

Those with whom Beijing is involved in an ongoing dispute over territory and sovereignty in the South China Sea are particularly suspicious. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand all lay claim to certain parts of the Paracel and Spratly island chains, which could have vast reserves of natural resources around them.

Berger points out that Beijing has not shown itself to be that keen on finding a diplomatic solution to the territorial disputes in recent years despite official rhetoric to that tune. Quite the contrary, he says: "Facts have been created, including concrete structures built by the army on the disputed islands." Thus, China's territorial demands have literally been cemented.

The aircraft carrier will not lessen suspicion towards Beijing and make its diplomatic relations with its neighbors any easier.

China's defense budget has risen by almost 70 percent in the past five years, while Japan's has fallen by 3 percent in the same time frame.

Author: Erning Zhu / act
Editor: Sachin Gaur