Update: Over at The Danger Room, Sharon Weinberger links to an English-language copy of the original report. And John at Op-For makes this excellent point: “I’ve always chuckled at references to China’s “asymmetrical” military doctrine. We’re the boys with the force-multiplying toys, and China’s the one with the big honking Army. Aren’t we the asymmetrical ones?” I‘ve been skeptical of reports that China is planning to deploy an aircraft carrier in the near future, perhaps as soon as 2010. But the rumor is persistent, and the Heritage Foundation’s Peter Brookes recently wrote a compelling essay on why the rumors might be true. Said Brookes,
I find this third reason particularly persuasive. The Chinese ASAT test earlier this year confirmed Beijing’s asymmetric strategy, but it also signaled to the world that China was capable of waging war in space–that it was a military power on par with the Soviet Union and the United States. An even greater indication of the Chinese desire to “show the flag” is that country’s manned space program, which, like this country’s manned space program, serves no other purpose than to demonstrate technological superiority and foster national pride. As the party organ People’s Daily put it in February of this year under the headline “Why Does China Want to Probe the Moon?“, “Sooner or later, China’s gorgeous five-star red flag will tower on the moon, and days are not distant for the dream of the Chinese people to come true.” Clearly, showing the flag is of some importance to the Chinese. Now The Marmot’s Hole links to this story from the very credible, if reliably left wing, Korean newspaper Hankyoreh Shinmun. According to the report, “China is secretly pushing the construction of a nuclear-powered ‘supercarrier’ of 93,000 tons.” My Korean is a bit rusty, but The Marmot’s Hole gives this synopsis:
I’d still contend that, as Brookes put it, Chinese carriers would be “nuthin’ but big, fat gray targets,” but that doesn’t change the fact that an aircraft carrier would boost Beijing’s ability to project “soft power.” And deploying a Nimitz-sized nuclear carrier would, like the ASAT test, show that China is to be considered a military superpower. Again, Brookes:
The Russian carrier Varyag, which is being refitted in the port of Dalian by the Chinese.
When the Chinese bought the ship from the Ukraine, they claimed it would be used in Macau as a floating casino.
