HONG KONG: China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier sailed into Hong Kong on Thursday (Jul 3), just days after the city marked 28 years under Chinese rule.
Commissioned in 2019, the more than 300m Shandong is China’s second carrier and key to the country’s regional ambitions under President Xi Jinping, who oversaw a massive naval buildup that has rattled Asian neighbours.
Beijing earlier announced the Shandong and its escort vessels – which include the destroyer Zhanjiang and frigate Yuncheng – will visit the Chinese finance hub for five days and host “tours and cultural exchange activities”.
The flotilla was spotted early on Thursday morning sailing off the southern coast of Hong Kong island.
The Shandong’s visit came days after it concluded combat drills in the western Pacific, alongside China’s first aircraft carrier the Liaoning.
Both ships are of a modified Soviet design with a distinctive “ski jump” deck for aircraft takeoff.
China’s third and more advanced carrier, the Fujian, is undergoing sea trials.
Tickets to visit the vessels in Hong Kong were snapped up within minutes on social media app WeChat.
“The idea appears to impress upon the Hong Kong public … the ruling (Chinese Communist Party’s) quest for building what’s termed as the status of a maritime great power,” said Collin Koh, a naval affairs specialist at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
