China's aircraft carriers play 'theatrical' role but pose little threat yet

A helicopter takes off from China's Shandong aircraft carrier, over Pacific Ocean waters, south of Okinawa prefecture, Japan, in this handout photo taken on April 15.HONG KONG - When China sailed one of its two active aircraft carriers, the Shandong, east of Taiwan last month as part of military drills surrounding the island, it was showcasing a capability that it has yet to master and could take years to perfect.

While some regional press coverage, partially based on Chinese state media reports, portrayed recent drills around Taiwan as active patrols and a military challenge to the US and its allies, the Chinese carriers are effectively still in training mode, eight of the experts said. "Carrier operations are a very complicated game, and China's got to figure this out all by itself. It still has a long, long way to go."

Anti-submarine helicopters operate from both carriers and China's Type 055 cruisers but the carriers have yet to deploy an early warning aircraft, relying so far on land-based planes, the 10 experts said. "It won't be until we see the next generation of carriers that the Chinese designs and the PLAN's intentions will really settle down."

Several countries operate aircraft carriers but the US remains the most dominant, running 11 carrier battlegroups with global reach. In a battle, he said, it "would be a very good target for US and Japanese forces, and they would take it down at the very beginning." A September editorial published in a magazine run by a PLA weapons manufacturer, titled Four great advantages the PLA has in attacking Taiwan, did not mention the role of Chinese carriers. Instead, it said, China's land-based ballistic missiles would be enough to overwhelm potential intervention from US carriers.

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