China confirms aircraft carrier

General Chen Bingde, Chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army said that a Soviet carrier is being refurbished, marking the first acknowledgement of the warship’s existence from China’s secretive military. “It is being built, but it has not yet been completed”, BBC reported quoting the Chinese General as saying in an interview to ‘Commercial Daily’.

The General refused to elaborate, but the Hong Kong daily reported that the warship, presently being built in the northeastern port city of Dalian was nearly finished and could be launched by June end.

BBC said the Chinese were working to refurbish a Ukraine built carrier called ‘Varyag’ reportedly purchased as scrap in 1988. But BBC reported that it does not imply that the carrier will be ready to undertake operational duties. “Chinese military would have to build carrier based fighters and learn how to fly planes off it.”