China Says It Is Building Its Second Aircraft Carrier
By CHRIS BUCKLEY

BEIJING — China is building a second aircraft carrier, the country’s Ministry of National Defense confirmed on Thursday. But unlike the first, this one will be produced entirely using China’s own designs and technology, the ministry said.

A spokesman for the ministry, Col. Yang Yujun, said at a monthly news briefing in Beijing that the second aircraft carrier was being built in Dalian, a port city in northeast China. He did not indicate when the ship would be completed.

China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, went into service in September 2012. It was built from a castoff, uncompleted vessel bought from Ukraine in 1998 and refurbished by the Chinese Navy.

“After taking into account a range of factors, the relevant authorities launched work on developing a second aircraft carrier, and we are now undertaking our own indigenous design and construction,” Colonel Yang said, according to a transcript of the news briefing on the ministry’s website.

“The design and construction of this second aircraft carrier have absorbed valuable experience from scientific experiments and training with the Liaoning,” he said.

The announcement was unlikely to surprise foreign analysts, who for months have circulated and pored over pictures of an unfinished hull, which indicated that a carrier was being built in Dalian. The images also circulated on Chinese websites, suggesting that the government was making no particular effort to hide its plans.

A second carrier would bring the People’s Liberation Army Navy a step closer to its ambition of becoming a powerful force capable of asserting China’s territorial claims and national influence far from Beijing.

“We have a long coastline and a broad maritime jurisdiction,” Colonel Yang said. “Defending national maritime security, and safeguarding sovereignty over territorial seas and over maritime rights and interests, are sacred duties of China’s armed forces.”

In November, the Chinese military revealed plans to build a logistics outpost in the East African nation of Djibouti, breaking with a longstanding reluctance to establish military facilities abroad.

In September, President Xi Jinping announced plans to cut 300,000 personnel from the military’s ranks, China’s biggest troop reduction in nearly two decades, to make more resources available for technological modernization and better-trained forces. The Communist Party leadership has endorsed plans to reorganize the People’s Liberation Army so traditional ground forces have less influence.

But the few details disclosed by Colonel Yang at the news briefing also suggested that China was moving incrementally toward developing an array of aircraft carriers.

He said that the second carrier would have a displacement, a measure of a ship’s weight, of 50,000 metric tons and use a “ski jump” takeoff technique for aircraft. The Liaoning has a displacement of 58,500 tons and also uses a ski jump for takeoffs.

By contrast, the United States Navy’s Nimitz-class carriers have a displacement of about 88,000 tons when fully loaded. The ski ramp takeoff limits the loads of fuel and ammunition that planes can carry, relative to the more difficult catapult takeoff system that the United States Navy has developed.

The People’s Liberation Army Navy has used the Liaoning carrier to hone the skills of fighter pilots and other personnel, but the carrier has not yet been absorbed into the growing Chinese naval forces regularly ready for missions.

陸國防部證實 第2艘航母建造中

中國五千年來第一艘「中國製造」的航母證實已開工。大陸國防部發言人楊宇軍昨證實，已啟動第二艘航母研製，正自主開展設計並在大連建造，排水量五萬噸級，採傳統動力與滑躍方式起降，搭載國產殲-15飛機與其他型號艦載機。

楊宇軍在例行記者會表示，中國擁有的第一艘航空母艦是「遼寧艦」，有關部門在綜合考慮各方面的因素後，啟動第二艘航空母艦研製工作，正在自主開展設計和建造；第二艘航母的設計和建造，吸收「遼寧艦」的科研試驗和訓練等有益經驗，許多方面將改進。

在航母規格上，楊宇軍表示，航母完全由中國自主開展設計，正在大連建造，排水量約為五萬噸級，採用傳統動力裝置；搭載國產殲-15飛機和其他型號艦載機，定翼飛機採滑躍起飛方式，艦上將配有滿足任務需要的各型設備。鳳凰軍事網報導，新航母可能比遼寧艦大10%以上。

楊宇軍強調，中國始終堅持走和平發展道路，堅定奉行獨立自主的和平外交政策和防禦性的國防政策；中國有漫長海岸線和廣闊管轄海域，保衛國家海上方向安全，維護領海主權和海洋權益，是中國武裝力量的神聖職責。

早在去年11月，大陸軍事網站已流傳數張第二艘航母的建造圖片，拍攝地點正是昨天證實的大連造船廠；從網路圖片可發現，艦體機庫船段已開始安裝，但四周的艙室空間安排，則用馬賽克模糊處理以免機密曝光。

這艘「中國製」航母的排水量約5五萬噸，將與「遼寧艦」差不多。軍事觀察家認為，從科研試驗性質角度看，新航母應是「遼寧艦」的複製版，採傳統動力主因是，中國已研發出跟遼寧艦相同型號的蒸氣輪機。

在外觀與內部設計上，觀察家認為，原遼寧艦的內部艙室過於狹小、不利長時間居住，新艦應會重新調整；甲板上的航海與航空艦橋也會重新設計，以更符合戰機起降作業，並安裝更多的雷達等偵搜設備。

至於新航母何時完工？楊宇軍並未透露，大陸軍事迷的判斷是2016年底，但有的軍事專家認為最快要2017年，且由於航母戰鬥群尚需空中預警機、電子作戰機、反潛機等協同搭配，真正形成戰力尚須數年時間。

第2艘航母規格

排水量5萬噸級、採傳統動力、滑躍方式起降、搭載殲-15與其他艦載機。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/01/world/asia/china-says-it-is-building-its-second-aircraft-carrier.html

紐約時報中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytimes.com/china/20160103/c03china/zh-hant/

2016-01-01．聯合報．A12．兩岸．特派記者林克倫