The new carrier launch in China may result in a competition to acquire greater military capabilities in the region.
The launch came three days after the 68th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army Navy on Sunday, and against the backdrop of a rising China's efforts to beef up its navy to project the world's second largest economy's growing clout overseas.
The as-yet-unnamed carrier joins the Liaoning, a repurposed 1980s-era Soviet ship that was bought from Ukraine and launched in 2012.
China began building its second carrier in November 2013. It is being planned to enter service in 2025.
It is far from ready for operations, but the launch "signified a major stage of progress of our country's indigenous design and construction of aircraft carriers", a news bulletin from the People's Liberation Army said. "Develop into a crack operational force".
The launch was timed with USA sending a naval battle group headed by aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to the Korean peninsula in a big show of strength. This is China's first Type 001A class carrier with a displacement of 50,000 metric tones which will serve as a base fighter jets, helicopters and a range of sea monitoring devices. Among them, only India has an aircraft carrier, one a little smaller than the Liaoning.
The launch of the aircraft carrier comes amid China's assertiveness in the resource-rich South China Sea.
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China's "expansionist behavior in the South China Sea and its aggressive efforts to undermine the security of Taiwan and Japan, in particular, have translated into a situation where few countries now trust that Beijing has benign motives", Easton said. The Liaoning was initially touted mainly as an experimental and training platform, but in December was declared to be combat-ready and has taken part in live-firing exercises in the South China Sea, where tensions have risen over China's construction of man-made islands complete with airstrips and military structures.
The carrier's launch comes amid heated rhetoric between the United States and North Korea and ongoing tensions in the South China Sea. China has urged calm. It is also the latest sign that China is working to expand its military presence and capabilities.
Experts saw the new carrier as a signal from Beijing that it was ahead of naval capabilities among all Asian countries.
Earlier reports said Chinese navy which now has an expanded role among the military is set to raise its marine forces from 20,000 to one lakh as it started setting up logistic bases in Gwadar port in Pakistan and Djibouti in Africa. It weighs 70,000 tons and is 315 meters long and 75 meters wide, but even when finished it's unlikely to lead a carrier group by itself, South China Morning Post reported.
Recent photos suggest the new carrier is quite similar to China's first, the Liaoning, which was purchased from Russian Federation and then refurbished and recommissioned, Defense News reported.
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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