Will the Fujian aircraft carrier find its home port in the South China Sea?

China’s Fujian aircraft carrier, which is expected to be commissioned soon, is likely to be based in the South China Sea, according to military observers.

Escorted by two destroyers, the third and most advanced carrier of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy departed from its shipbuilding yard in Shanghai last week, transited through the Taiwan Strait and entered the South China Sea.

The Fujian headed to the waters for “scientific research experiments and training missions”, a “standard arrangement in the aircraft carrier construction process”, the navy said last week.

The movements are the same as the final phase the aircraft carrier Shandong underwent in 2019. At that time, after a month of “scientific research experiments and training missions” in the South China Sea, the PLA Navy’s second carrier was delivered to the PLA at the naval base in Sanya, in Hainan.

The development last week has raised speculation that the Fujian will soon enter service and will also be based in Sanya. If confirmed, two of China’s three active carriers will be stationed at the modern naval base within the PLA Southern Theatre Command, which oversees the South China Sea.

  

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