Nation can produce larger carriers

The builder of the Navy's aircraft carriers has become able to make new, larger carriers, according to its chairman.

Liu Zheng, chairman of Dalian Shipbuilding Industry in Liaoning province, said his company and its parent, China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, the world's largest shipbuilder, have acquired the ability to design and build aircraft carriers - the most technologically sophisticated of all surface vessels.

Their capabilities have been gained through construction of the CNS Liaoning, China's first carrier, which was built based on a half-finished, imported Soviet-era vessel, and the nation's first domestically designed carrier, which is in the final outfitting stage before starting sea trials.