China Stations Newest Aircraft Carrier in Disputed Waters

The Chinese navy confirmed on Saturday that the country's most advanced aircraft carrier, CNS Fujian, will be homeported at a base in the contested South China Sea, where Beijing's territorial claims overlap with those of a number of other countries.

The Fujian, China's third aircraft carrier and its first equipped with electromagnetic catapults to launch heavier fixed-wing aircraft, was commissioned on Wednesday at Yulin Naval Base near Sanya in Hainan province, located north of the South China Sea.

China's sweeping claims of sovereignty—based on its so-called "historic rights"—over most of the South China Sea have been challenged by the United States and its regional allies and partners, particularly the Philippines, leading to standoffs and maritime clashes.

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