Captain Jawahar Bhagwat (retd), Ph.D.

The PLA Navy’s first carrier, Liaoning, originally the Soviet Admiral Kuznetsov class carrier Varyag, was sold to a Chinese travel agency in 1998, and was transferred in a partially completed state from Ukraine in 2001 after it was stripped of all weapons and engines. It underwent years of refitting and was handed over to the Chinese Navy in September 2012 as an ‘aircraft carrier training platform’, which was not assigned to any of the fleets.

Two months after commissioning, the PLAN conducted its first carrier-based takeoffs and landings. In 2013, it made its first long range operational deployment in the South China Sea. It has slowly and steadily built-up its combat capability. On 4 February 2014, South China Morning Post reported President Xi Jinping telling the Liaoning Captain, “You should build up the carrier’s combat readiness, logistics and support expeditiously”.

In November 2016, it was reported that it was fully combat worthy. In December 2016, it was reported that the Liaoning conducted its first ‘live-fire’ drills. From September 2018, the carrier has been undergoing a major refit which reportedly includes an upgrade to the island structure. According to the American Center for Strategic and International Studies, “The Liaoning may be best suited for regional missions short of a high intensity conflict. ….The Liaoning’s lack of an aircraft catapult, inefficient propulsion and the relative inexperience of its aviators and support crew do not augur well for high intensity combat operations… Beijing considers the Liaoning as a symbol of its great power status. Regardless of the Liaoning’s future abilities, the ship commands a degree of political utility, as a tool of naval diplomacy, through various operations, regional and global.”

Surprisingly, there were media reports including from the US-based defence website ‘navyrecognition.com’, ‘Russia Today’ based upon the US website report and the Pakistan-based new outlet ‘The Nation’ in February 2019, stating that China is likely to sell Liaoning to Pakistan so as to compete with India. However, the Chinese state media was quick to deny these reports as completely untrue. Song Zhongpin, a Chinese military expert, told Global Times that it is a groundless allegation and complete falsehood. He said that there is zero possibility of China reselling it. He further added that “such reports have no credibility from Pakistan’s perspective as the country pursues an onshore defence strategy, which means that it does not need an aircraft carrier. And its defence budget cannot afford an aircraft carrier or maintain one.”

Shandong

China’s second aircraft carrier was commissioned into the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) on 17 December 2019 in a ceremony held at the Sanya-Yulin naval base on Hainan Island, and was given the name Shandong after a Chinese province with the pennant number 17. The ceremony was honoured by the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who presented the PLA flag and naming certificate to the ship’s captain and political commissar, reflecting the significance with which the entry into service of China’s first completely indigenously built aircraft carrier is viewed. “Commending China’s achievements in aircraft carrier construction, Xi encouraged them to continue their efforts to make new contributions in the service of the party and the people”, the official Xinhua news agency reported. (Jesse Johnson, The Shandong, China’s first homegrown Aircraft carrier: More than just a symbol of prestige. Website: https://www.japantimes.com/, December 18, 2019, available at https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/12/18/asia-pacific/shandong-china-homegrown-aircraft-carrier/#.Xft9q9IzbMw, accessed on 19 December 2019.)

The carrier’s base-port of Sanya-Yulin is on the northern shores of the South China Sea, at the doorstep of the South China Sea which may indicate the region where the carrier is likely to operate in the immediate future. Although it will be geographically co-located with the naval forces of the Southern Theatre Command (South Sea Fleet), the carrier may be placed under the direct