Chinese aircraft carrier

As part of its overall program of naval modernization, there has been interest on the part of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy in building or acquiring an aircraft carrier. However the carrier has appeared to have been placed in a lower priority than Chinese efforts to upgrade its aircraft and smaller ship forces.

Most naval analysts believe that without significant modernization in other areas of its military, that a Chinese aircraft carrier would be militarily useless and would take resources away from other parts of the military. The main target of Chinese military interest, Taiwan, is within range of Chinese land aircraft and China's main focus in case of a conflict over Taiwan would be sea denial[?] rather than power projection[?]. This assessment appears to be shared by the Chinese military and political leadership.

See: Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag