China building first-ever ‘nuclear-powered’ aircraft carrier after refusing to join nuke talks with US and Russia, satellite images show
It currently only has one carrier in active service – the Liaoning - compared to the US which has 20 in operation
CHINA'S military is secretly building its first nuclear aircraft carrier to take on the US in the crucial battle to control the South China Sea, new satellite images reveal.
The worrying photos emerged as the nation flatly refused to join talks with the US and Russia blowing hopes of a trilateral disarmament deal out of the water.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said: “China opposes any country talking out of turn about China on the issue of arms control, and will not take part in any trilateral negotiations on a nuclear disarmament agreement.”
He insisted his country’s nuclear forces were at the “lowest level” of its national security needs, and said they could not be compared to the US and Russia.
However, terrifying new images seem to show President Xi Jinping's nuclear ambitions are greater than ever.
The photos from April, provided to Reuters by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, show considerable recent activity at the Jiangnan shipyard near Shanghai.
China currently only has one carrier in active service – the conventionally-powered Liaoning - compared to the US which has 20 in operation.
America also expects the biggest carrier in the world, the 100,000 tonne USS Gerald R Ford, to join its fleet sometime next year.
The seafaring giant has the capacity to carry more than 75 aircraft and can accommodate a massive crew of more than 4,500.
However, after decades of trying to close the gap, China’s naval hardware might finally being catching up .
China’s hi-tech new nuclear-powered aircraft carriers - which could number five - are all expected to join the navy by 2035.
Each battleship will reportedly be equipped with electromagnetic aircraft catapults similar to those already being used by the US Navy.
The Pentagon said last week that it feared work had begun, but no images have emerged until now.
The effort to build a large, locally designed carrier is seen as a core part of China's extensive military modernisation drive.
The CSIS images show a bow section that appears to end with a flat 30-metre (98-foot) front and a separate hull section 41 metres wide, with gantry cranes looming overhead.
That suggests a vessel, which China has dubbed Type 002, somewhat smaller than 100,000-tonne US carriers but larger than France's 42,500-tonne Charles de Gaulle, analysts say.
Fabrication halls the size of several soccer pitches have been built nearby, and work appears to be continuing on a floodable basin, possibly to float the finished hull into the nearby Yangtze River.
"While details regarding the Type 002 are limited, what is observable at Jiangnan is consistent with what is expected for the People's Liberation Army Navy's third aircraft carrier," said the CSIS.
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CSIS analyst Matthew Funaiole told Reuters that images taken late last year were inconclusive, but that now the work under way is clear.
"From what we can see there has been a lot of activity in the last six months or so," he said.
"It would appear that it is the third carrier, and if it is not, it's hard to envisage what other large vessel it would be."
China's Ministry of Defence has not responded to request for comment on the images.
