Netizens suggest names for new ship, but are told that must wait

Asked whether China would build military bases around the world following the launch of its second aircraft carrier, a Ministry of Defense spokesman said, let’s not get carried away.

China will make decisions on the development plan for its new aircraft carrier and supporting facilities according to mission needs, ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said at a regular news conference on Thursday. The nation’s second aircraft carrier was launched on Wednesday in Dalian, Liaoning province.

Harbors and training and logistics facilities are key support elements for carriers, and China will produce an overall plan for their development, Yang said.

A name for the new aircraft carrier, the largest and most sophisticated surface vessel that China has ever built, has Shandong.

“We have read the posts,” Yang said. “But by the rules of precedent, the name is unveiled at the ceremony for the vessel’s official handover to the People’s Liberation Army Navy.”

The PLA Navy currently operates one aircraft carrier, CNS Liaoning, which was refitted from an incomplete Soviet-era vessel at the Dalian shipyard, where the second carrier was built.

The Liaoning went into service in September 2012, and work started on the second carrier a year later.

Dry dock construction began in March 2015, and the second carrier was launched with its propulsion and power systems operating, the Navy said in a news release on Wednesday.