Chinese navy talent drive fuels carrier buzz
A recent pledge by the navy to find top talents to upgrade its weaponry has led to new speculation that China plans to build its first aircraft carrier, a key move that would pave the way for a blue-water maritime force.
![Photo shows the 'Varyag' aircraft carrier being built at a shipyard in Dalian, China. The great 'Varyag' is going to be China's first aircraft carrier.[File photo]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20110511/0019b93bd68d0f34231301.jpg "Photo shows the 'Varyag' aircraft carrier being built at a shipyard in Dalian, China. The great 'Varyag' is going to be China's first aircraft carrier.[File photo]") |
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Photo shows the 'Varyag' aircraft carrier being built at a shipyard in Dalian, China. The great 'Varyag' is going to be China's first aircraft carrier.[File photo] |
The People's Liberation Army (PLA)Navy is seeking to recruit more than 2,000 PhD degree holders in the next five years, Xia Ping, head of the Navy Personnel Department, said Monday at a military conference.
The military already cultivated more than 1,000 commanders and technical personnel to develop and operate new batches of marine weaponry, including "large surface combat ships," nuclear submarines and new warplanes, between 2005 and 2010, Xia said, without identifying the weapons.
Such plans to build a talent pool for large surface combat ships have served to reinforce widespread assumptions of the launch of an aircraft carrier later in the year, analysts suggested.
Indications of the carrier's development were believed to have begun in 2009 when Navy Commander Admiral Wu Shengli announced a development plan for large surface warships.
In an interview with the Xinhua News Agency that year ahead of the Chinese Navy's 60th founding anniversary, Wu revealed the army's ambition to accelerate its development of advanced weapons, including large surface warships.
But Wu did not specify if the plan included the development of an aircraft carrier, with media reports only citing him as defining large surface combat ships as those with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons.
Zhang Zhaozhong, a professor at the PLA National Defense University, told China Central Television that a large-scale destroyer already in service definitely falls into such a category, and an aircraft carrier with a displacement ranging from 60,000 tons to 100,000 tons based on US standards could also be included.
