Liaoning News

The commissioning of China's latest aircraft carrier this week marks a new chapter in its military modernisation effort but security analysts and regional diplomats say tough challenges lie ahead before it can be made fully operational.President Xi Jinping attended the commissioning and flag-presenting ceremony of the Fujian in Hainan province on Wednesday, and boarded the vessel for an inspection tour, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.The Fujian is China's third aircraft carrier…

Marilyn Hubalde still remembers the first time she heard the thunderous chop of military helicopters swooping over this northernmost outpost of the Philippines, less than 90 miles from Taiwan. It was April 2023, when Filipino and American troops descended on the cluster of 10 emerald green islands of Batanes province for amphibious warfare drills.“We were terrified,” the 65-year-old Hubalde recalled. “We thought China might attack when they learned there were military exercises in Batanes.” Hubalde’s helper…

The two Chinese aircraft carriers spotted conducting simultaneous operations in the Pacific for the first time send a political message about the country's "expansionist" aims, Taiwan Defence Minister Wellington Koo said on Wednesday.Japan's defence minister said the previous day that the appearance of the Chinese aircraft carriers signified Beijing's intention to further widen its capabilities beyond its borders.Koo said the armed forces had a "full grasp" of the carriers' movements."Crossing…

China has flexed its muscles this month by sending an unusually large number of naval and coast guard vessels through a swathe of East Asian waters, according to security documents and officials, in moves that have unnerved regional capitals.Since early May, China deployed fleets larger than usual, including navy, coast guard and other ships near Taiwan, the southern Japanese islands and the East and South China Seas, according to three regional security officials and documents of regional military activities reviewed by Reuters.On May 21 and May 27…

China on Wednesday launched sea trials for the Fujian, its third and most advanced aircraft carrier, state media reported.The start of tests by the Chinese navy came nearly two years after the aircraft carrier was first unveiled in June 2022.The Fujian, entirely designed and built domestically, is larger and more advanced than the Shandong, commissioned in late 2019, and the Liaoning, which China bought second-hand from Ukraine in 1998.The development of the Fujian is part of a build-up central to President Xi Jinping's bid to make China the preeminent military power in the region…

Chinese state media unveiled new images of China's most advanced aircraft carrier yet, including next generation launch tracks that can catapult a wider range of aircraft from its deck.First shown to the public in June 2022, the Fujian was entirely designed and built domestically.Yet to conduct its first sea trials, the aircraft carrier is larger and technologically more advanced than the Shandong, commissioned in 2019, and the Liaoning, which China bought second-hand from Ukraine in 1998 and refitted domestically.On state television late on Tuesday…

Ports in China's Shandong province are demanding more detailed information about oil tankers that are more than 15 years old that call at their terminals, sources with knowledge of the matter said, potentially delaying the unloading of crude shipments in the world's biggest oil importer.Last week, the maritime safety administrations at Qingdao and Rizhao, which covers the oil terminals at the port of Lanshan, notified shipping agencies to submit details on their ships' age, where a ship is flagged…

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.As Beijing modernizes its military, its formidable missile forces and other naval vessels, such as cutting-edge cruisers, are posing a concern for the U.S. and its allies. But it could be more than a decade before China can mount a credible carrier threat far from its shores…

China launched its third aircraft carrier on Friday, the Fujian, named after the province opposite self-ruled Taiwan, sending a statement of intent to rivals as it modernizes its military.President Xi Jinping has made overhauling the world's largest armed forces a central part of his agenda, seeking to project power well beyond China's shores, though the government says it has no hostile intent.Champagne, colorful ribbons, water cannons and smoke were deployed to celebrate the carrier's launch and official naming at a ceremony at the Jiangnan shipyard in Shanghai…

Iran could quickly export millions of barrels of oil it is holding in storage if it reaches a deal with the United States on its nuclear program and has been moving oil into place to prepare for an eventual restart, four traders and industrial sources said.The U.S. and Iran began in mid-June their sixth round of indirect talks on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal that former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of in 2018. Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran’s energy sector, leading…

A Chinese carrier group is exercising near Taiwan and such drills will become regular, China’s navy said late on Monday in a further escalation of tensions near the island that Beijing claims as its sovereign territory.Taiwan has complained of an increase in Chinese military activity near it in recent months, as China steps up efforts to assert its sovereignty over the democratically run island.China’s navy said the carrier group, lead by the Liaoning, the country’s first aircraft carrier put into active service…

Chinese ports and marine safety authorities are on high alert as an expansion of sea ice makes it tougher for ships to berth and discharge at key energy product import terminals along the coast of northern Bohai Bay.A cold wave sweeping the northern hemisphere has plunged temperatures across China to their lowest in decades, boosting demand for power and fuel to historic highs in the world's largest energy consumer."The sea ice situation is more severe this year than the same period in previous years," said Wang Jun, a professor specializing in transport issues at Dalian Maritime University."It could impede sailing and docking for vessels, no matter how big they are."Weather officials warned against severe frost this week in the region, with sea ice stretching 45 to 55 nautical miles at Li

The 308,000 DWT very large crude carrier (VLCC) CSSC Liaoning, constructed for a leasing company of China Shipbuilding Trading Company (CSTC) by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC), was christened and delivered on May 8.The new generation VLCC independently developed by DSIC has a total length of 332.95 meters and a molded breadth of 60 meters. When the navigational draft is 20.5 meters, the ship can normally lade 2 million barrels of crude oil through the Straits of Malacca…

As Washington and Beijing trade barbs over the coronavirus pandemic, a longer-term struggle between the two Pacific powers is at a turning point, as the United States rolls out new weapons and strategy in a bid to close a wide missile gap with China.The United States has largely stood by in recent decades as China dramatically expanded its military firepower. Now, having shed the constraints of a Cold War-era arms control treaty, the Trump administration is planning to deploy long-range…

Malaysia called on Thursday for disputes over the South China Sea to be resolved by peaceful means, amid a standoff between Chinese and Malaysian vessels that a U.S. think tank said had been going on for months.U.S. and Australian warships arrived in the South China Sea this week near an area where a Chinese government survey vessel, the Haiyang Dizhi 8, has been operating close to a drillship under contract to Malaysian state oil company Petronas, regional security sources have…

Global ship deliveries have been hit as yards in China struggle to get fully back to work as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, with one shipbuilder saying it could not deliver two vessels.The coronavirus has caused chaos in Asia and beyond with flights suspended, businesses disrupted and entry restrictions imposed by governments trying to ward off its spread. The global shipping trade has also been hit.China's Jiangsu New Times Shipbuilding, which has an annual production capacity of 5 million deadweight tonnes (DWT)…

Ukraine officials and traders do not expect the coronavirus epidemic to have an impact on the country's grain exports to China, although there are delays to transport and disruption to logistics throughout the country.China is a major importer of Ukrainian corn and sunflower oil."I see no reason to worry," said Mykola Gorbachev, the President of the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) traders' union."China is in the market, demand has not gone away, but just now American prices are quite competitive with ours so Chinese demand will be divided between us and them…

The economic impact of China's coronavirus lockdown is being felt across the globe, with exporters, miners and manufacturers of everything from coal and timber to meat and fruit facing delays and potential shipment cancellations.As the most populous nation and factory floor for most of the world's manufactured goods, China is normally the largest and most voracious consumer of a slew of global raw materials, fuels and foods.But the combination of an extended Lunar New Year holiday…

Chinese shipyard Jiangsu Zhenjiang Shipyard Group has held a steel-cutting ceremony for four new Azimuthing Stern Drive (ASD) tugs."Series of 6000HP ASD tugboats, which built for Liaoning LongyunShunze Tug Ltd. by our company, were carried out steel cutting. Our guests, President Quzhi, General Manager Tianye, attended the ceremony. It symbols milestone of steel cutting of four tugboats," said a press release from the shipbuilding firm.Liaoning LongyunShunzeTug  is mainly responsible for vessels’ entering and leaving port, berthing, berth shifting, pushing and towing in all berths of Liaoning HaihangIndustry, wholly owned by Liaoning…

Japanese public multinational corporation Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) has completed the construction of a new dock in northeast China, as the company streamlines costs amid competition from South Korean rivals.According to a press note from the manufacturer of ship and offshore structure, KHI started construction of the first ship at this new dock at Dalian COSCO KHI Ship Engineering (DACKS) in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, China.DACKS is jointly operated by Kawasaki and China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited (China COSCO Shipping), and the ship being built is a 61,000 DWT bulk carrier to be delivered to China's CMB Financial Leasing Co., Ltd.This recently completed dock has been in planning since the founding of DACKS in 2007, and it was built to enable greater growth.The No.

China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) shipped a 60,000-tonne cargo of diesel in late May destined for Brazil, the Chinese major's first move of the refined fuel in a shipment of this size to the Americas, an inhouse newspaper reported on Monday.Chinaoil, CNPC's trading unit, has shipped nearly one million tonnes of diesel to Latin America since 2015, but mostly with medium-ranged tankers able to carry about 40,000 tonnes, the report said.The shipment to Brazil was loaded with production from Liaoyang Petrochemical Corp, a subsidiary refinery of CNPC, at Bayuquan port in Liaoning province in northeast China, according to the newspaper.CNPC aims to further explore the arbitrage opportunities and expand market share in South America, the report said, adding that larger shipments would help cut

China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier headed out for sea trials on May 13, Chinese state media reported. The report said that the new aircraft carrier, temporarily named Type 001A, sailed out at around 7 a.m. in Dalian, in the northeast province of Liaoning. The Chinese Navy — officially the People’s Liberation Army Navy — already has one operational carrier, the Liaoning, which it bought unfinished from Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. So, the 50,000-tonne ship will become the country's second aircraft carrier, and the first to be entirely built and designed inside of China, when it joins the navy sometime before 2020. State media reports say China is also planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier capable of remaining at sea for long durations.

China first domestically developed aircraft carrier looks set to begin sea trials after pictures appeared on the Chinese internet on Monday of it leaving its dock in the northeastern port of Dalian. The still-unnamed carrier was launched this time last year but since then has been undergoing fitting of weapons and other systems and has not yet entered service. Chinese President Xi Jinping is overseeing an ambitious military modernisation scheme, including stealth jets and anti-satellite missiles, as China ramps up its presence in the disputed South China Sea and around self-ruled Taiwan, an island it considers its own. Online Chinese news portals…