CHINA confirmed Thursday it is building a second aircraft carrier to go with an existing one bought secondhand.

    Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said the carrier had been designed in China and was being built in the port of Dalian in Liaoning Province.

    Foreign military analysts and Chinese media have for months published satellite images, photographs and news stories purporting to show the second carrier’s development.

    “China has a long coastline and a vast maritime area under our jurisdiction. To safeguard our maritime sovereignty, interests and rights is the sacred mission of the Chinese armed forces,” Yang said.

    Yang said the second carrier is being built entirely with domestic technology but has drawn on China’s experience refitting its first carrier, the Liaoning, “with new improvements in various aspects.”

    The Liaoning was bought from Ukraine in 1998 and christened the Liaoning after the port in which it was refitted.

    Yang said the conventionally powered new carrier has a displacement of 50,000 tons, will be able to operate the Shenyang J-15 fighter and, unlike the 60,000-ton Liaoning, have a ski-jump takeoff.

    Yang would not say when the second carrier would enter service, saying it depends on progress in the design process.

    Asked whether China was thinking of a third carrier, Yang said that “relevant authorities” would take various factors into consideration about future carrier plans.

    Successfully operating the Liaoning is the first step in what State media and some military experts believe will be the deployment of domestically built carriers by 2020.

    The Liaoning has taken part in military exercises, including in the South China Sea, but is not yet fully operational.

    Last week, the military said the Liaoning had made a “key breakthrough” in shifting from the testing phase to being able to operate ship-borne aircraft, as the country’s navy chief paid a visit.(SD-Xinhua)