China has started building the second of four planned aircraft carriers, Agence France Press reported, citing state media reports that quoted a top Chinese official. Wang Min, Communist Party chief of the northeastern province of Liaoning, stated that the ship is under construction in the port of Dalian – the province’s capital – and will take six years to build. The country’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, is a refurbished vessel acquired from the Ukrainian navy that once served with the Soviet fleet. The Liaoning carrier conducted its maiden mission for the PLA Navy in the South China Sea in January.
* This brief was amended to clarify that the Liaoning is a refurbished vessel and was not built by China from scratch.