National Legislature News

Xu Hongmeng, deputy commander of the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, said the PLA plans to put the carrier, which has undergone four sea trials into service this year. The former Varyag, which is docked in Dalian Port, in Northeast China's Liaoning province, is currently equipped with life-size model planes. China's first aircraft carrier, a retrofitted former Soviet vessel, set out on its maiden voyage on Aug 10 and returned to port five days later. It underwent three more sea trials in the Pacific.

The current flourishing world ship market has brought opportunities for China to strive to be the biggest shipbuilder with a sharp competitive edge in technological innovation rather than low-cost labor force, Xinhua reported. The growing orders from shipping companies worldwide will bring more business opportunities for Chinese shipbuilders. Global orders for ships have topped 100 million deadweight tons for consecutive two years, and the demand is expected to remain at 60 million deadweight tons annually up to the year 2010. Currently, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan, two of the world's four shipbuilding giants, take about 70 percent of the world's shipbuilding market, with China and the European Union sharing 15 percent and 17 percent respectively.