China is planning to build at least two nuclear powered aircraft carriers, according to a report in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper in Tokyo.
The only plus for the United States here is that construction might not begin until 2020 on the carriers that would be based on designs for the discontinued Russian Ulanovsk Class carriers displacing about 60,000 tons, though China will begin building two conventionally powered aircraft carriers this year. (The U.S. Nimitz Class nuclear powered carriers displace about 78,000 tons empty and 101,000 tons loaded.)
While China has said it is building up its military to protect its coastlines, or to eventually invade Taiwan, or to guard sea lanes of Chinese global trade, the Asian giant has been buying the strategic global-reach weapons of a major military power.
Aside from the future nuclear-powered carriers for the People’s Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN, the PLAN also has nuclear-powered Jin Class submarines with nuclear-tipped missiles with a range of almost 5,000 miles. From a submerged position 2,000 miles out in the Pacific, such a missile could strike New York City or Washington, D.C.
China also is deploying 7,000-mile-range land based missiles. The PLA Air Force is buying long-range bombers, and cutting-edge strike fighters.
And China has about 1,400 missiles aimed toward Taiwan, which would endanger any U.S. aircraft carriers or surface combatants such as Arleigh Burke DDG 51 Class destroyers or Ticonderoga Class cruisers that might attempt to aid Taiwan by blocking a Chinese invasion.
Some military analysts say China is moving to create a modern, major military force able to counter or slow American forces, while not able to defeat them. This move by China would mean it would gain an ascendant sphere of influence and power concentrated in the waters off its coasts, past Taiwan and surrounding Japan, but eventually covering the entire Pacific and Indian oceans.