China's economy is crucial to Beijing's growing influence in Asia and beyond, but it sometimes obscures a more basic element of its power: a formidable military machine. Recent developments should remind the region's countries, and Japan in particular, of the need to keep that capability in mind. Beijing's assertiveness is backed by its constantly modernizing armed forces, one that can better defend its national interests and can project power over increasing distances. Those capabilities assume still greater significance as Beijing's foreign policy grows more assertive and its regional objectives more ambitious.
One of the most obvious signs of China's interest in power projection is its aircraft carrier program. China has one carrier, the Liaoning. It was purchased from Ukraine, cleaned and refurbished, and declared combat-ready in 2016. A second carrier, the first to be home-built, is now undergoing sea trials in the Bohai Sea and is expected to be delivered to the navy by the end of this year. Preparations are reportedly underway to build a third carrier, larger than the first two, more modern and capable of carrying nearly twice the number of aircraft. One analysis concluded that China could field four carrier battle groups by 2030.
Building such vessels is merely the first step in a long process to make them usable instruments of national power. Learning how to operate them alone — aircraft carriers are especially difficult to master — and then in combination with other vessels takes time. Japan, along with the United States and China's other neighbors, has kept a close eye on their training activities. Last week, the Liaoning conducted takeoff and landing drills in the western Pacific, the first time it practiced such maneuvers on the high seas; it had done so earlier in the South China Sea.