“Fujian” China’s indigenous aircraft carrier: An Annotated Bibliography

Femy Francis 

On 05 November, China’s latest aircraft carrier, Fujian, entered service with the military command of China. The carrier was commissioned, and the ceremony was attended by China’s President Xi Jinping, held at the naval port in Sanya, Hainan. Xi Jinping also presented the August 1st Army Flag to the captain and political commissar of the Fujian warship. More than 2,000 representatives from China’s navy and aircraft carrier construction units attended the commissioning and flag-presenting ceremony. The project was first launched in 2022. This advanced carrier features an electromagnetic catapult system for launching and landing aircraft. This is also the first carrier that China designed entirely domestically; the first two similar ones were Liaoning and Shandong, commissioned in 2012 and 2019, respectively, were heavily influenced by Soviet models. Fujian is different from its predecessor, which relied on less advanced ski jump-style “short take-off, barrier-arrested recovery” (STOBAR) systems.

It is constructed by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited and named after Fujian province. The Fujian is around 316 meters long and has a total displacement of 80,000 tons. The aircraft carrier is indigenously built and is expected to be stationed with the South China Sea Fleet. It enhances its potential in launching more aircraft with heavier payloads and allows it to launch more fighter-bombers at one time.

China is the biggest shipbuilding country in the world, with over 89 million commercial ships built in 2024, out of which 57 per cent were made in China. Other than that, out of the 20 largest shipyards in the world, 14 of them are Chinese, according to the US Navy report. The shipyards are now focusing on transitioning to green and innovative shipbuilding domestically. In 2024, China received 70 per cent of the global green-energy ship orders. In 2025, the merger of China State Shipbuilding Corporation and China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation was finalised, and many smaller and varied private shipping firms were launched.

Annotated Bibliography
Buckley, C., & Amy, Chien. (2025). China’s New Aircraft Carrier Signals Naval Ambitions. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/world/asia/china-aircraft-carrier-military-navy.html
The op-ed in the NYT reports on the commissioning of the newly built aircraft carrier “Fujian” for military services in China, and the vision for this indigenously built carrier. The authors state that Fujian is deploying with a plan to assert dominance and even build more aircraft carriers. They noted that while it still lags US carriers’ sophistication but is the first one to compete with the US in terms of size and capabilities. The authors also note the context in which Fujian is launched, with the Taiwan Strait tensions, and some experts see that Fujian is being used along with battleships and submarines. The launch showcases China becoming a fully mature carrier power state a fellow from Japan’s National Institute for Defence Studies.

Davidson, H. (2025, November 8). China’s latest aircraft carrier enters service to extend reach into high seas. The Guardian. http://theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/07/chinas-latest-aircraft-carrier-enters-service-to-extend-reach-into-high-seas
Davidson looks at the larger ambition of reaching high seas and maritime dominance that Fujian caters to. The op-ed notes that this year, the PLA has been testing several new barge ships, designed to create a loading dock from almost a kilometre out from shore, to bypass rough seas and rocky coastlines. For several years, observers have also analysed the development of dual-use “roll-on-roll-off” (roro) ferries repurposed to carry military equipment across the Taiwan Strait. The authors note that there is some evidence that they are already working on a fourth carrier. Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Centre for Strategic Studies Director said: “Carriers are key to Chinese leadership’s vision of China as a great power with a blue-water navy,” or one that can project power far from its coastal waters.”

Hart, B. (2025, November 7). How advanced is China’s third aircraft carrier? | ChinaPower Project. ChinaPower Project. https://chinapower.csis.org/china-type-003-fujian-aircraft-carrier/
The editorial looks at the specification of the Fujian aircraft carrier compared to its predecessors, Liaoning and Shandong. The piece notes that this indigenous aircraft first started building in 2022, at Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard. The piece notes: “The Fujian is larger than its predecessors, which allows it to support a more robust airwing. It displaces roughly 80,000 tonnes, compared to the Liaoning’s 60,000 tonnes and the Shandong’s 66,000. The Fujian is also considerably larger than France’s Charles de Gaulle carrier (42,000 tonnes) and the United Kingdom’s HMS Queen Elizabeth (65,000 tonnes), but smaller than the U.S. Navy’s Ford-class carrier (100,000 tonnes).”

Agnihotri, K., & Rigzin, C. (2025, July 31). THE PLA NAVY’s AIRCRAFT CARRIER, THE FUJIAN: A SYMBOL OF CHINA’S ‘FAR-SEA DOMINANCE’ ASPIRATIONS. National Maritime Foundation. https://maritimeindia.org/the-pla-navys-aircraft-carrier-the-fujian-a-symbol-of-chinas-far-sea-dominance-aspirations/
This piece maps out the trial schedules for the aircraft carrier Fujian. It states that the extended duration of Fujian’s testing programme and sea trials— now approaching two years— reflects both the scale of its technological advancement and the institutional learning curve, sought to be projected through the Chinese warship-building enterprise. Agnihotri also notes that the main characteristics of Fujian are divided into: Category, Specification and Details, and Assessment/Significance. The author calls Fujian a “Force Multiplier” They stated that the commissioning of the Fujian will provide a three-carrier force to the PLA Navy, thus allowing the deployment of at least one carrier continuously in a given location or area of interest.