What will India do now that China’s third and most advanced aircraft carrier, Fujian, joins the PLA Navy?

New Delhi: The third aircraft carrier has joined the Chinese Navy. Named Fujian, it has now officially entered service. Defence experts say this aircraft carrier will help the world’s largest navy (China) expand Beijing’s sphere of influence beyond its own territorial waters. China’s state news agency, Xinhua, reported on Friday, 07 November 2025, that President Xi Jinping boarded the aircraft carrier Fujian on Wednesday, November 5, for an inspection tour in Sanya City, southern Hainan Province. China aims to build at least 11 aircraft carriers, and the motive behind this is unclear.

Fujian is China’s most advanced aircraft carrier

Fujian is China’s most advanced aircraft carrier, utilising electromagnetic catapult technology. This is the same technology used in the US Navy’s latest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford. According to the Global Times, Fujian can launch three different types of aircraft with its electromagnetic catapult and flat flight deck. It’s worth noting that China also launched its fifth-generation J-35A Marine aircraft carrier this year. This means that China’s navy has now become quite powerful.

Third aircraft carrier joins China’s Navy

China built the Fujian aircraft carrier domestically and can carry aircraft loaded with heavy weapons and fuel to attack enemy targets from long distances. China already has two aircraft carriers, the Liaoning and Shandong, built by Russia, but this third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, is more powerful and advanced than both. Chinese state media has described Fujian as an “important milestone” in the development of China’s navy. The United States is now the only country in the world to possess an aircraft carrier with an electromagnetic catapult system like the Fujian.

Analysts believe the carrier will provide China with a new means of exerting pressure on Taiwan, Japan, and disputed areas in the South China Sea. Jiang Hsin-biao, a researcher with Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense, says, “In the future, China may deploy its carrier groups, including warships, submarines, and support ships, in the Western Pacific, enabling a strategy to encircle Taiwan.”

Will shift maritime power balance in Asia

During the Fujian aircraft carrier’s trials, China tested its new J-35 stealth fighter, KJ-600 early warning aircraft, and an advanced variant of the J-15. The deployment of these aircraft will give China long-range surveillance and attack capabilities at sea. US defence expert Greg Poling told the New York Times that “aircraft carriers symbolise China’s ambition to see itself as a great power, capable of not only defending its coasts but also of projecting influence throughout the Indo-Pacific.”