China’s New Aircraft Carrier begins Sea Trials

China’s first domestically produced aircraft carrier set out from Dalian in northeast China on Sunday. PHOTO: CHINA STRINGER NETWORK/REUTERS

May 13, 2018

BEIJING—China’s first domestically produced aircraft carrier began sea trials Sunday, the latest step forward in the country’s quest to advance its military footprint.

The carrier set out from Dalian in northeast Liaoning province, according to China’s state-run news agency, Xinhua. The trials are intended to test the reliability and stability of its power system, Xinhua said.

While China still trails the U.S. in its technological capacity, Beijing is rapidly modernizing its forces under President Xi Jinping and has ramped up efforts to build a world-class navythat can safeguard its interests at home and abroad.

On Sunday morning, China’s state broadcaster CCTV showed footage of the carrier on a gray day at sea. Hu Wenming, the aircraft carrier’s chief engineering commander, told the broadcaster that the newly launched aircraft carrier was smaller than U.S. carriers’ Nimitz class, which can sail longer without refueling and accommodate more planes. However, the launch was a sign that the country had the ability to build more similarly sized aircraft carriers in the future, and larger ones as well, the broadcaster said.

The aircraft carrier’s sea trials come as China has continued to expand its military presence in the South China Sea, including runway construction and the recent deployment of military jamming equipment in the area, sparking concern among neighbors and in the U.S. In recent years, China has also dispatched ships and submarines deep into the Indian and Pacific oceans.

“It’s raising the cost of an intervention, particularly by the U.S., in any conflict off China’s coast,” Michael Kovrig, senior adviser for North East Asia at the International Crisis Group, said of the carrier, citing China’s recent shows of force directed at Taiwan in particular. “It’s one more step in shifting the strategic balance in the western Pacific and in creating a Chinese sphere of influence.”

China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was based on the refurbished hull of an old Soviet model purchased from Ukraine in 1998.

By Te-Ping Chen — Fanfan Wang contributed to this article.

Write to Te-Ping Chen at te-ping.chen@wsj.com