Chinese aircraft carrier sails into Hong Kong on maiden visit

By Greg Torode

 

China's aircraft carrier Liaoning sails into Hong Kong, China, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Bobby Yip

 

HONG KONG, (Reuters) - China's first aircraft carrier sailed into Hong Kong waters on Friday in the latest show of the country's growing military might at a time of heightened regional tensions.

 

Tourists and residents gathered early to catch a glimpse of the massive carrier on its maiden visit to Hong Kong, part of celebrations marking 20 years since the handover of the city from British to Chinese rule.

 

The Liaoning was accompanied by several other naval ships from its strike group, with jet fighters and helicopters visible on the flight deck alongside hundreds of crew dressed in white uniforms.

 

"The Liaoning's visit shows that China is a militarily superior country," said Jack Chan, a retired businessman, who was watching the aircraft carrier from an oceanfront park.

 

Thousands of Hong Kong residents queued for hours on Monday, many unsuccessfully, for 2,000 tickets allowing access to the vessel this weekend.

 

Even though the former Russian naval ship remains a training vessel for China's rapidly modernizing navy, its missions through tense regional seas have been closely followed in Hong Kong, which is more used to hosting U.S. carriers and other foreign warships.

 

"I think Liaoning's visit definitely gives the central government a chance to display its military power. It's quite a positive and smart strategy to step up publicity overall," said Sean Moran, a tourist from the United States, as the ship passed behind him on a blustery morning.

 

U.S. consulate officials told Reuters that they have yet to be invited on board the Liaoning. The U.S. navy often hosts the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on ships visiting Hong Kong, sometimes flying local military chiefs to aircraft carriers.

 

The Liaoning's most recent drills at the weekend included operations in the Taiwan Strait that were closely monitored by Taiwan's military given recent tensions with Beijing, which regards the island as a breakaway province.

 

With its Soviet-era takeoff ramp distinguishing it from the ordinary Hong Kong traffic of container ships and bulk cargo vessels, the 55,000-tonne Liaoning steamed down the congested East Lamma channel shortly after dawn.

 

Significantly smaller than the U.S. carriers that have long stopped in Hong Kong, the Liaoning started life as one of the Soviet Union's last carriers under construction, before being sold by Ukraine as a stripped down hulk to private Chinese interests in 1998.

 

The vessel was later refitted in a northern Chinese shipyard in what was seen by foreign military analysts as a key early test of China's naval modernization.

 

The Liaoning began sea trials as China's first aircraft carrier in 2011 and has more recently conducted fully integrated drills with its complement of J-15 jet fighters and a variety of support ships.

 

(Additional reporting by William Ho, Pak Yiu and Bobby Yip; editing by James Pomfret and Richard Pullin)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-07

You wonder though if aircraft carriers will soon go the way of the battleship, with current missile technology are they really just for show? Just a continuation of the gunship diplomacy of years gone by...

33 minutes ago, Rancid said:

You wonder though if aircraft carriers will soon go the way of the battleship, with current missile technology are they really just for show? Just a continuation of the gunship diplomacy of years gone by...

a battle carrier group is an impressive way of projecting power without actually destroying anything. america has 11 of them and once deployed can out gun pretty much any foreign power.

8 hours ago, Rancid said:

You wonder though if aircraft carriers will soon go the way of the battleship, with current missile technology are they really just for show? Just a continuation of the gunship diplomacy of years gone by...

As a stand alone carrier yes but as a carrier group and with all that entails...I'm not so sure.

That carrier looks much like Thailand's Antique carrier (911) that sits in Satahip 99% of the time........ But at least China has a couple aircraft on display........ I wonder if they can actually fly.............

15 minutes ago, sawadeeken said:

That carrier looks much like Thailand's Antique carrier (911) that sits in Satahip 99% of the time........ But at least China has a couple aircraft on display........ I wonder if they can actually fly.............

makes me think of 60 years back... The Royal Navy - and a Carrier sitting in the South China Sea.  

 

The new Fairey Gannets are arriving, to replace the Sea Hornets, which were all falling apart at the glue seams.

 

This is why there are no surviving Sea Hornets, to display in museums...

 

They set each Sea Hornet up on the catapults

and dead-launched them

 

kerPow

 

kerSplash

 

again & again & again...

21 minutes ago, tifino said:

makes me think of 60 years back... The Royal Navy - and a Carrier sitting in the South China Sea.  

 

The new Fairey Gannets are arriving, to replace the Sea Hornets, which were all falling apart at the glue seams.

 

This is why there are no surviving Sea Hornets, to display in museums...

 

They set each Sea Hornet up on the catapults

and dead-launched them

 

kerPow

kerSplash

again & again & again...

That's why Thailand has purchased submarines, go find the Sea Hornets and apply waterproof glue.

Not bad for a "still developing" country laying claim to (and hard at work weaponizing) half the western Pacific but that can't be held to any climate control limits under the Paris Accords until 2030...

 

 

China still has a long way to go to catch up technologically and in hardware to match the US.  It's just a small sabre they can rattle, and an old, though rebuilt, one at that.  China's expansionist plan in the south China sea is despicable.

 

UK has just seen it's brand new carrier set sail, but for now it is as much use as Thailand's old flagship, since neither have any jets to fly.

 

 

 

37 minutes ago, hawker9000 said:

Not bad for a "still developing" country laying claim to (and hard at work weaponizing) half the western Pacific but that can't be held to any climate control limits under the Paris Accords until 2030...

 

 

The Paris (climate taxation) Accord that would be...

 

 

Edited July 7, 20179 yr by George FmplesdaCosteedback

The control of the South China Sea has cost the West a lot of blood. The Chinese will have to fight for any further concession, they should realize that the Hong Kong contract was an exception to the rule: land is never given back for free.

Should be fun to watch them trying to launch rocket powered jets off that skateboard ramp. 

On 7/8/2017 at 2:57 AM, hawker9000 said:

Not bad for a "still developing" country laying claim to (and hard at work weaponizing) half the western Pacific but that can't be held to any climate control limits under the Paris Accords until 2030...

 

 

China is already way ahead of schedule on complying with the Paris accords.