The as-yet unnamed vessel is China’s second aircraft carrier. Early on Wednesday morning it was towed from Dalian Shipyard, in Liaoning Province, to a nearby wharf, China’s Ministry of National Defense said.

The new vessel still lags behind its US counterparts technologically, but senior fellow at Sydney’s Lowy Institute Sam Roggeveen told CNN it is likely just a “stepping stone” to China’s next generation of aircraft carriers.

“It’s probably been designed to just get China in the aircraft carrier game, and while this design was just an incremental advance (on the country’s first carrier), with the next carrier, which could already be under construction, it will be much closer to a US carrier,” he said.

News of the launch comes as tensions mount over North Korea, China’s unruly neighbor and ally. However, the carrier isn’t expected to enter active service until 2020.
China's second aircraft carrier was launched at a ceremony on April 26, 2017. It is their first domestically-built carrier and is yet to be fully completed.
A ship is launched when it is first put into the water — but the carrier still requires considerable work to complete it. Once operational, the new carrier will likely be officially commissioned in a separate ceremony.

Construction began in November 2013, and just over three years later the main hull has been completed, as well as a number of the vessel’s primary systems, including power supply.

“Next, the aircraft carrier will debug its system devices and conduct fitting-out as planned, and start mooring tests,” China’s military said in a statement.

New carrier just an ‘incremental’ advance

China’s first carrier, the Liaoning, was bought from the Ukraine in 1998. After years of refurbishing and outfitting, it was finally put into service in 2012.
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Roggeveen said the new carrier would boost China’s naval capabilities, particularly in the South China Sea, but was based on outdated technology.

“(It still has) what they call the ski jump, which is the 15-degree incline at the front of the ship … to give aircraft more lift,” he said.

“The reason that’s important is that it’s very much a second-best solution for launching aircraft off a carrier. The Americans use what’s called a catapult, which slings aircraft off at much higher speeds.”

The Chinese government’s military buildup has unsettled its neighbors and Washington, particularly as Beijing has taken a more robust stance in territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

According to Yvonne Chiu, an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong, China’s navy is trying to enhance its ability to operate globally across open oceans.

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