With the launch of its new aircraft carrier, the Fujian, the Chinese navy now has three. The vessel is the first in the fleet to be equipped with an electromagnetic catapult and can send off shipboard aircraft in rapid succession.
China continues to expand its military arsenal, and its technology is approaching that of the state-of-the-art carrier systems used by the U.S. Navy. Asian neighbors should be extremely wary of this development.
The Fujian is named for the southeastern coastal province that lies across from Taiwan. Earlier in his career, President Xi Jinping spent many years in the province, and was not shy in expressing his strong desire to reunify Taiwan with the mainland. With Russia roiling the global security environment through its invasion of Ukraine, other countries are watching China closely.
The Asian giant's other two carriers -- the Liaoning, which China refurbished after purchasing it secondhand from Ukraine, and the Shandong, Beijing's first domestically built carrier -- use ski-jump ramps to launch fighter aircraft. The Fujian uses an electromagnetic catapult and a flat runway. The shape of the ship has also been modified to increase stealth, making it more difficult to detect on radar.
After its initial trial voyage, the Fujian will be deployed for actual operations around 2024. A three-carrier grouping would allow for rotation of missions, training and maintenance, similar to that of the U.S. Navy's carrier strike groups. China is also reportedly considering acquiring a nuclear-powered carrier, which would remove the need for constant refueling. Beijing is determined to strengthen its navy.
In May, the Liaoning conducted at least 300 takeoff and landing drills in the Pacific Ocean east of Taiwan. This training area is disturbingly close to Japan. China's accelerated efforts to bolster its military destabilize the East and South China seas, and the Pacific Ocean.
Beijing's draft defense budget for 2022 is up 7.1% from the previous year, a greater increase than the 6.8% year-on-year jump in 2021. China does not disclose a detailed breakdown of its spending, and its research and development expenditures are also unclear. What is clear, however, is that as the world's second-largest economy, China has a responsibility to help ensure regional stability.
Neighboring Japan must take every opportunity to encourage Beijing to exercise restraint while developing its own defense capabilities. These endeavors are underscored by the Japan-U.S. alliance, the Quad grouping of the U.S., Japan, India and Australia, and the trilateral partnership between the U.S., Japan and South Korea. The current situation demands the creation of a multilayered security framework.