China's Aircraft Carrier Ambition

By Scott Cooper

Much has been written over the past few years on China’s potential aircraft carrier program. Recent assessments have ranged from ‘China does not have an aircraft carrier program’, to ‘China is to build Nimitz like Supercarriers’!  It is more likely that China is indeed about to build aircraft carriers, but cut from more conservative clothe than the Nimitz class, and that we will see the first indigenous Chinese carrier by 2013. What has happened during the past 20 or so years to get to this point?

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The views expressed in this paper are the Author’s own.

About the author: Scott Cooper spent 10 years in the Australian Defence Force, in both Armoured and Intelligence Corps, and a further nine years as a civilian within the Australian Department of Defence. In the civilian field he has worked in a number of areas including capability guidance, net assessments and strategic policy development. He is currently on leave of absence from the Department of Defence and is the Adviser to the Director of Policy within the Iraqi Ministry of Defence, Baghdad. He has also worked in both the United States and Indonesia. His academic fields of study have included History, Strategic Studies, Politics, and International Relations, and is fluent in Bahasa Indonesia.