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Beijing will have aircraft carrier by 2020, MND says

Ministry of National Defense officials said yesterday that the Chinese navy will have its first aircraft carrier by the end of 2020.

“They [the People’s Liberation Army] are working very hard on aircraft carrier-related projects. If everything goes well, they shall be expecting the first aircraft carrier by the end of 2020,” Major General Wang Cheng-hsiao (王正霄), deputy director of the ministry’s Intelligence Department, told the legislature yesterday morning.

Wang was at the legislature to brief lawmakers about the latest developments in his agency.

His statement came in response to questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), who asked him about a report in the Chinese-language China Times yesterday that China was establishing a base for nuclear-powered submarines.

Wang said the Chinese military’s building of a new submarine base was not news because the Pentagon had reported on the construction in this year’s report on the Chinese military.

Wang said the ministry did not think the Chinese military would be able to establish its first aircraft carrier fleet for some time after its first aircraft carrier is delivered in 2020.

“To establish such a combat fleet is not an easy task. Our investigations show that there is not enough time for them to do so,” Wang said.
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