Aircraft carriers needed: Minister

By Cui Xiaohuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-24 07:55

China will not remain the world's only major country without an aircraft carrier, Defense Minister Liang Guanglie has said.

"China's navy is currently rather weak, so we need to develop an aircraft carrier," Japanese media quoted Liang as saying on Friday.

The minister was the highest-ranking official to recently declare the country's need for carriers to protect its maritime security.

Liang was reportedly responding to a question by his Japanese counterpart Yasukazu Hamada during their meeting in Beijing on Friday.

Web users hailed Liang's remarks yesterday.

A sina.com.cn poll of nearly 20,000 netizens showed 50.3 percent believe China will build a carrier "very soon".

More than 44 percent believe China will "definitely build one, but it will take a long time".

Nearly 87 percent of respondents believe China has long been capable of building aircraft carriers but has been waiting for the right time to manufacture them.

"The defense minister's statement says a lot," a netizen using the moniker "Mshr123" posted on Fly Junshi, a popular military forum.

"A domestically manufactured aircraft carrier will soon be at sea," the netizen said.

The construction of aircraft carriers serves as a symbol of a country's strength, and China can build its own, Vice-Admiral Wu Huayang, deputy political commissar of the Chinese navy, told reporters earlier this month.