First Chinese Aircraft Carrier Begins Sea Trials

[ParamouR]

(Newsroom America) -- China sent its first aircraft carrier to sea trials earlier this week, the latest advance in Beijing's efforts to become a stronger naval power capable of challenging U.S. hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region.

The vessel, a revamped warship that was initially built for the Soviet navy in the 1990s, is smaller than U.S. carriers, has fewer personnel and features an upward slope bow to launch aircraft. But the mere existence of the carrier signifies Beijing's desire to become a more powerful player in its quest to become the dominant power in Asia.

The hull, purchased from Ukraine, has a new engine, guns and radar but is not fully functional yet and must be supported by other vessels. China has said it will use the ship mainly for training purposes. It's designed to carry about 50 jets, and is not nuclear-powered but is believed to have a gas-turbine or marine diesel engine.

The carrier has yet to be named. China's official Xinhua news agency ran a commentary Wednesday seeking to downplay its significance.

"There should be no excessive worries or paranoid feelings on China's pursuit of an aircraft carrier, as it will not pose a threat to other countries," the commentary said.

Still, the ship will send a powerful message both to the Chinese people, who have long equated aircraft carriers with strength, and to regional nations, many of which have longstanding territorial disputes with Beijing.

And, the vessel represents China's intent on both dominating the waters in and around Asia, as well as projecting power to protect its global interests elsewhere, analysts say.

The biggest hurdles are yet to be overcome, however. Even Chinese analysts say it could take as much as 10 years or more to develop the tactics and infrastructure to operate a modern aircraft carrier group which also includes destroyers and frigates, submarines and satellites all operating on a central command system, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The U.S. operates 11 nuclear-powered carriers, and one of them - the U.S.S. George Washington - is stationed in Japan.

The group of nations that also operate carriers - which are expensive and difficult to maintain - is small. Russia, France, India, Spain, Brazil, Thailand and the United Kingdom all operate one carrier each; Italy operates two.

© 2010 Newsroom America.

NewsRoomAmerica.com - First Chinese Aircraft Carrier Begins Sea Trials

[SealLion]

It's part and parcel because of it's growing and emerging economic dominance on the global scale.
Many things that you buy are made cheaply in China.

Wanna buy a watch??
It only costs your 5 dollars..cheap, eh?
Buy Chinese-made and you'll save a bundle.

Is it any wonder that China exports so much of it's products abroad to foreign countries (which account for about 70 or so percent of it's exports) that it's foreign trade is in the trillions of dollars now??

It can/does/ and will encroach on the economic dependence of other countries for computer chips and other electronic equipment, agricultural products and chemicals, textiles, and so forth.
Why you ask??
Easy....cheap labor in China.


Economic growth means military growth as well as that country can afford to buy/upgrade many things in it's military arsenal. It also doesn't like it when a foreign country walks into it's backyard without even so much as a by-your-leave.

By the way...this is in the wrong section. This should be placed more correctly in the General News section. Aircraft carriers don't run around on sports fields.

[flowerorange]

Aircraft carriers don't run around on sports fields.

Aircraft carriers run on a sports field of military competition..

a/w, their government is not voted by their ppl..So they dont need to give lots of shits to their ppl, and focus more on building a stronger country.
I cannot imagine a strong country with many ppl struggling to survive and the authority still spend tons of money to show off power.

[SealLion]

It spends money to show it's strength not to it's own populace but to the international communities. Hence, as per your question, China spending tons of coin to show off power even though a large part of it's rural population is 'poor'.

China isn't the only one. Look elsewhere on the map and you'll see North Korea isn't much different. So are many Western countries that spend a tonne of money on it's military. Do you see poor or less-well-off people in your neighborhood?? Chances are 'yes'.

Besides, guns and ammo, including making war is big business. More business than you or I could imagine. Why not spend money on arms and military growth?? It's good business and keeps the money flowing freely. Who cares about the poor ( sarcasm intent to illustrate the point) . You can't make money off, of the poor. Ever heard of any kind of business that financially thrives off, of poor populations??... never.

Also, who is China's neighbor?? Have a look on the map and you'll see that Taiwan, which China has been itching to get back from it's "rogue state" (using China's government own perception, that is) is just across the China Sea. Japan isn't too far off either. Both are economically strong as are these 2 countries ally. Namely the one right across the Pacific Ocean that likes to meddle in other regions affairs and so forth which itself has been cruising the seas just off China's shores.
Is it any wonder that China spends money to make indications to those other countries that it wants to be on par with (so to speak) both economically and militarily??

[flowerorange]

Poor populations fiance is definitely a non-profit business..But government is not a company who just wanna make money, even some companies have their own charity project.
Taiwan and Japan focus more on their poors than China. Poor ppl should be one of the most important consideration before something wrong happen.
People always fail to trust a non-voted government and consider it a potential thread.
Showing off power is another way to win their ppl's confidence, just like North Korea usually do..But it would result in other issues.North Korea is becoming the most infamous country in the world.
Running an Aircraft carrier indicate that China is playing an offensive role now.It will break the balance on east Asia. China wanna become the next North Korea ? A real threat to east Asia ?
We definitely dont feel safe to do business with North Korea..and it does harm to economic in return.

[slikrapid]

@SealLion:

You can't make money off, of the poor. Ever heard of any kind of business that financially thrives off, of poor populations??... never.

sure you can, though not directly off of them, but rather use them and their situation to get interested parties (wanting some positive public reputation, having some guilty conscience, playing some tax loopholes,...) to cash out for the cause of 'helping' the poor, 'aiding', 'fighting' social differences (aka injustice), etc. and then make sure most of this money never reaches its advertised destination

Is it any wonder that China spends money to make indications to those other countries that it wants to be on par with (so to speak) both economically and militarily??

they actually have to increase the military power to at least roughly match that of the neighboring countries, otherwise the neighbors might get some bad ideas, say...invasion and the like, especially if the chinese economic power becomes too much to handle in the usual (non-military) way


@flowerorange:

But government is not a company who just wanna make money

on the contrary, it is a powerful 'company', flirting with all the big industrial players, unofficially obligated to repay the favors to their campaign donors - thats the price of their status, ie. they are owned way before they even get elected

Poor ppl should be one of the most important consideration

but not too much, otherwise being poor might get popular (fi. sweden), where some (many?) people won't even try to work since the benefits of staying poor (on social aid) outweigh low-income work ones

People always fail to trust a non-voted government and consider it a potential thread.

its not too different with a voted government, it just 'feels' more trustworthy, but after a while its true face will show itself (for those that want to see it, ofc)

North Korea is becoming the most infamous country in the world.

it was once more prosperous than south korea, until the usa (with an international helping hand) started with heavy-duty interference to make the north one unpopular, under sanctions & to fall into military dictatorship - all the while heavily financing the south and spreading anti-north propaganda - the result is a devastated country with a paranoid leadership & scared population, just because they didn't 'play ball' with the world leaders, just another test to observe the outcome of a controlled-conditions experiment and if they like the outcome one may expect global replication of it

It will break the balance on east Asia.

and who should be the one to say what kind of balance is desirable and what not? generally, every kind of balance is temporary and sooner or later becomes replaced with another kind of balance (ie. breaking of balance is perfectly normal, regardless of whodunnit)

China wanna become the next North Korea ? A real threat to east Asia ?
We definitely dont feel safe to do business with North Korea..and it does harm to economic in return.

[SealLion]

....
Taiwan and Japan focus more on their poors than China. Poor ppl should be one of the most important consideration before something wrong happen.

Try telling that to the intended party.

Even China is making money off, of the poverty-stricken lands and regions in Africa with the falsly publicized intent to 'help' the poor. You think that Chinese entrepenaurs and it's government agencies are interested in 'fully' helping African regions??
Not really. Only partially but just enough to keep the poor, poor in Africa....afterall, profit is more important than helping your fellow-man, you know.

It's like guns, tanks, bombers, airplanes, armies, ammunition, missiles and the like. It's much, much more profitable.
Just like immunizations, pharmaceuticals, and the like....way more profitable. Besides, you can use people in some of the poorer regions of Africa as guinea pigs for your health-related drugs before sending those 'safe'-tested drugs to the unwashed masses in the western world. It's been done before and it'll keep on happening.

As for China expanding it's intended role regionally, this isn't new. There are countless historical evidences throughout. The Macedonian Empire which traveled all the way towards India for conquest and trade, The Roman Empire, the British Empire for trade and conquest, The Napoleonic Empire, Western colonizations throughout history into South America, Africa and Southern Asia. these all were driven by economic means. It's economics that drives empires. These all fell later on at some point in time of course

How does an empire expand to fulfill it's economic means??...easy. It expands it's military. How else could it get it's economic fulfillment. As for those empires and countries looking after it's own poor...it did/does. But one thing that I think that you might be missing is that the poor will always be with us. There's no such thing as a Utopian world where there is no such thing as poverty. Even the old Soviet Empire could bear testament to that. It had people living in less well-off situations. Communism only kept those in power that wanted to remain in power. It may have had it's origins in making people equal and the sharing of resources equalized but Communism became bastardized. Democracy is bastardized too.

Money is the major motivation. Regardless of what the publicized intentions are...money and nothing but that.

Right now, it's the American Empire...you think that'll last forever?? Think again. There's challenges to that current Empire. And it all depends who's side your on. If your in Asia, sure...you'd probably favor China and anybody that's in the east. If your in the Western Hemisphere, you'd probably favor the other side. Though that's only perspective.

[jonah8]

It's hard to believe China can rise peacefully.
This is a worrying development.

[cheatos]

It's hard to believe China can rise peacefully.
This is a worrying development.

Same goes for China as well:

It's hard to believe the UK can rise peacefully.
This is a worrying development.

[slikrapid]

It's hard to believe China can rise peacefully.

sure it can (and it currently does just that), until it rises to some level that is perceived as 'dangerously high' by its competitors (usa, eu,...) when we may expect an increasingly hostile attitude towards them - the early phase of this attitude-change is already under way, which can be observed in a sudden rising media focus on china, especially if that coverage is intentionally laced with hostile/antagonizing/fear-mongering topics/comments/conclusions/undertones

just like in any other competition, the competitors are seeking advantages, trying to gain a better status compared to others, its that simple - if the competitors are moderate, the whole game can be played rather peacefully, but as we have witnessed it over millennia, the leading people/governments/companies (aka the big players) are prevalently corrupt elitist egomaniacs (that don't understand 'moderation' and don't want to), whereas the mainstream (the voting majority) is prevalently acting as sheeple (don't bother using their intelligence, just mindlessly go with the flow & hope for the best, believe anything some paid 'experts' claim instead of using their own better judgement, enjoy their status as the perpetual/helpless 'victim',...) - in such a scenario the realistic outcome is anything but peaceful and whatever situation seems currently peaceful is most likely boiling underneath, getting ready to 'explode'

in other words: the big players are 'pushing it' and the sheeple are 'allowing it' - this is actually the most worrying development (or rather a historical constant), which most likely won't be improved in the future, it will become only worse (global & harmonized)