China plans to build three naval bases for aircraft-carriers in coastal areas including Sanya on Hainandao and Qingdao in Shandong Province, China’s English-language Global Times reported on Jan. 18.
The Sanya Base has already been built in the Yarung Bay, and work is underway there to reinforce facilities to counter possible attack from the outside and surveillance, the Global Times said, quoting unnamed sources.
A naval base in Qingdao was constructed long time ago in February 1988. The base, built on 10.7 square meters of land, is big enough to house aircraft-carriers. But as the base was built at a time when China had no aircraft-carrier, it has begun work to build a larger base at a nearby port which will replace the old one, the sources said.
The new base will be an appropriate place to check South Korea and Japan, they said.
The Zhoushan Quandao in Zheijang Province is favored to become a third naval base for aircraft-carriers. It is not far from Changxingdao near Shanghai, where China is building aircraft-carriers.
China’s first aircraft carrier, Varyag, will be deployed from the Qingdao base, a move likely to add to foreign concerns over the country's military expansion. Beijing has refitted the former Soviet carrier Varyag, as part of plans to increase its military power to a level equivalent to its economic status. It bought the Russian carrier in 1998 from Ukraine.
Aircraft-carriers China is building with its own know-how and technology will be deployed from the Sanya base, the sources said.
Work on two aircraft-carriers is underway in the Changxingdao shipbuilding yard.