China’s largest and most advanced warship has officially entered its military fleet, boosting Beijing’s ability to project naval power amid rising U.S. concern about its assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.
The Fujian was officially commissioned for service on Wednesday at a ceremony overseen by President Xi Jinping in the southern island of Hainan, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. The ship is named after the Chinese province facing Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy the Communist Party has vowed to claim someday, by force if necessary.
China’s third aircraft carrier joins the People’s Liberation Army Navy as Beijing is locked in competing territorial disputes in regional waters such as the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. Multiple maritime clashes between Chinese forces and the Philippines, as well as other U.S. allies, have raised tensions in recent years between the world’s largest economies.
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