Chen Bingde Talks Aircraft Carriers

Chen Bingde, the chief of China's military general staff, has publicly discussed the ex-Varyag aircraft carrier in public for the first time in a Hong Kong daily. The Guardian has a story here, and the BBC already has two stories here and here. You can also see the Global Times report here.

The original transcript from the interview with the Hong Kong commercial daily is here.

There is little new to learn from this report, but we can conclude that the ship is very close to sea trials because it is being discussed openly. There are more than a few rumors in China the ship will conduct sea trials over the July 4th weekend.

The interview reinforces opinions that are already common, specifically that the ex-Varyag will be a training carrier used for learning carrier operations. Varyag was a cold war era designed Russian aircraft carrier, so the Chinese are going to learn carrier operations from one of the worst designed large aircraft carriers in the world. That is probably why the aircraft carrier is described as a symbol rather than a capability in the interview.

There are two things in the interview that i found interesting. In the article Qi Jianguo, Assistant Chief of General Staff, contrasts the way US carriers are used in an aggressive way contrasting the way China expects to operate their aircraft carrier as harmonious in the global system. He basically is attempting to emphasize the aircraft carrier is part of the peaceful growth and development of China.

More interesting in the interview is that Qi Jianguo admits China is woefully behind the curve in development of a maritime strategy, particularly with a blue water strategic posture that will have global presence. He discusses China's transition towards global naval presence in the context of generational time, which is critically important if analysis of China's naval growth is to be accurately understood.

The comparisons and contrasts between generational time in the context of China's maritime growth and the debate within the US regarding shipbuilding plans for X number of years is something I think is worthy of more thought and discussion in the future.