China's navy is growing and stronger. On Wednesday, it launched its aircraft carrier that it built on its own. China now has two aircraft carriers. The first one was built by Russia and came into in 2012. The new 50,000-ton carrier is the first to be developed and built by China. It was launched at a in the shipyard of the China Shipbuilding Corporation. Navy followed tradition and broke a of champagne on the carrier's bow. Development of the new carrier started in 2013. The shipyard started building it in 2015. The Chinese Navy will test the new carrier at for the next three years. It will go into service in 2020 after all of the airplanes it needs are .
A for the Chinese said he was, " of the great achievement made by the country in modernizing the national defense and ". He added that the aircraft carrier would help to strengthen China's to protect itself. He also said China could now look after its and protect its shipping and trade routes. A social media user on Weibo (the Chinese Twitter) said the new carrier was, "a of China's technological power, industrial capability and strength". There are reports that China is planning to build at two and possibly up to four carriers. The new carriers could be as big as the biggest U.S. Navy carriers. They could weigh as as 100,000 tons.
