The cutting-edge Fujian is in the final stages of testing before it officially commences service with China’s navy.
Published On 12 Sep 2025
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China’s <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/15/china-navy-power-on-show-in-pacific-signals-ability-to-contest-us-access">latest aircraft carrier</a> navigated the Taiwan Strait during an exercise before its official service commencement, reports the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).
PLAN spokesperson Senior Captain Leng Guowei indicated on Friday that the Fujian is heading to the South China Sea for testing.
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"The cross-regional tests and training are regular missions in the ship's construction and target no specific object," said Leng, as reported by Chinese media.
The 80,000-tonne Fujian hasn't been officially commissioned yet, but it will soon become China’s third and most advanced aircraft carrier, joining the Liaoning and Shandong vessels.
Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military affairs expert, told Global Times that the Fujian’s research voyage to the South China Sea indicates the carrier is nearly complete, following earlier tests in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea.
Expectations were met as Chinese media released photos and videos of the aircraft carrier leaving Shanghai’s shipyard on Wednesday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">A step forward for China's blue water navy.</p>
🇨🇳China's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian passes through Taiwan Straits to hold tests, training in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SouthChinaSea?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SouthChinaSea</a>.
Note, the Taiwan Strait is not 'international waters'.
The Fujian is China's first fully domestically… <a href="https://t.co/3ffANYEbMH">pic.twitter.com/3ffANYEbMH</a>
— Shen Shiwei 沈诗伟 (@shen_shiwei) <a href="https://twitter.com/shen_shiwei/status/1966323569891455051?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2025</a>
</blockquote>
Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force spotted the Fujian near the disputed but uninhabited Senkaku Islands (known as Diaoyu in China and Diaoyutai in Taiwan) sailing towards the Taiwan Strait, escorted by two PLAN destroyers.
The Fujian is only the second aircraft carrier globally, after the USS Gerald Ford, equipped with an electromagnetic catapult system, simplifying aircraft launch and recovery.
This development suggests narrowing the technological gap between China and the US according to maritime expert and former US Air Force Colonel Ray Powell, who notes remaining limitations.
The Fujian is 20 percent smaller and conventionally powered, not nuclear-powered like its US counterparts, says Powell.
China's challenge will be crew readiness across its three carriers—Fujian, Liaoning, and Shandong—with veteran crew members to be divided among them.
"China is bridging the hardware gap, but developing operational expertise for effective blue-water carrier operations is a skill the US has refined over nearly a century," stated Powell.
No commission date for the Fujian has been set, but the US Naval Institute (USNI) expects it to align with a significant historical date for China, like the September 18 anniversary of Japan’s 1931 invasion of Manchuria or China’s October 1 National Day.
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