China on Wednesday launched its first indigenously-built aircraft carrier which will join an existing one bought from Ukraine, boosting its blue-water capabilities amid growing tension about Beijing flexing its muscle in the strategic South China Sea.
The 50,000-tonne new aircraft carrier was transferred from a dry dock into the water at a launch ceremony in northeast Dalian shipyard of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC) amid streamers and champagne.The as-yet unnamed vessel is China’s second aircraft carrier. The ship was towed from Dalian Shipyard, liaoning, to a nearby wharf, China’s Ministry of National Defense said.