China''s first aircraft carrier ready for sea trial

The Chinese navy's first aircraft carrier left its shipyard at Dalian Port in northeast China's Liaoning Province on Wednesday to set sail for its first sea trial, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. Refitting work will continue after the vessel has returned to the port, said Xinhua, adding that the Liaoning Provincial Maritime Safety Administration publicized a notice restricting navigation in waters off the Dalian coast, saying that vessels are forbidden from traveling through a designated area till Sunday. The trial is in line with the carrier's refitting schedule and will not take a long time, the report said, adding that it is still unknown where or for how long the carrier's first sea trial will last. The carrier was originally built by the former Soviet Union, which failed to complete the ship's construction before collapsing in 1991. The aircraft carrier was an empty shell when it was sold to Ukraine. Ukraine later disarmed it and removed its engines before selling it to China. The project comes amid rising tensions between China and neighboring countries over territorial claims to the resource-rich South China Sea and its island groups. Vietnam staged the military drills in June over sovereignty claims on the Spratly Islands, which are also claimed by China, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines, after accusing Chinese boats of disrupting oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea. On July 27, China's Defense Ministry officially confirmed that the country is refitting an imported aircraft carrier body for the purposes of scientific research and training. The ministry did not give further details about the carrier, but Chinese military experts said the carrier has a displacement of nearly 60,000 metric tons, according to Xinhua's earlier report.