The following news is reprinted from Lianhe Zaobao.
Thursday (April 23) marks the 77th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Navy. The PLA released the themed promotional video on Wednesday (April 22), hinting that China’s fourth aircraft carrier is a nuclear-powered one. If confirmed, this would be China’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, making China the third country after the United States and France to possess nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
Scholars interviewed said that the PLA releasing the video at this time serves not only to celebrate the 77th anniversary of the Navy but also to deter the United States across the Pacific, “to counter the threats posed by the United States with strength.”
China’s PLA News and Propaganda Center client “China Horn” released the themed promotional video “Toward the Ocean” on Wednesday (April 22). The video lasts 7 minutes and 7 seconds. In rapid-cut scenes, it shows the transformation of the Chinese Navy from near-sea defense to distant-sea defense. The video features carriers, carrier-based aircraft, amphibious assault ships, submarines and other advanced equipment. (PLA video screenshot)
The characters in the video are named Liao Ning, Shan Dong, and Fu Jian, alluding to the names of China’s current three carriers—Liaoning, Shandong, and Fujian. On the Fujian Carrier there is a 19-year-old recruit reporting for duty; his name is He Jian. On Chinese social media, many military enthusiasts, upon seeing “He Jian,” immediately associate it with the homophony of “nuclear ship,” and believe this is the official “explicit hint”: the fourth aircraft carrier will be nuclear-powered. The age 19 is taken to indicate the hull number 19. It is said that due to privacy and secrecy considerations, Chinese military propaganda documentaries often use aliases.
China currently has three conventional-powered aircraft carriers; whether the fourth is nuclear-powered has long attracted attention from Western and Japanese media, but the Chinese official side has refused to confirm.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported last December that Japan’s think tank “The National Institute for Studies of Basic Problems” analyzed satellite imagery and found that in November, in the shipyard building China’s fourth aircraft carrier, there appeared what looked like structural components of a hull, and two vessel-like containers, prompting speculation that China’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was being built. The think tank also inferred that the carrier was being built in the shipyard of Dalian Shipyard in Dalian, Liaoning.
Reportedly, mainland PLA is building a blue-water carrier task group to prevent the U.S. military from approaching Taiwan in the event of an emergency there.
Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are the core force of a blue-water navy; with near-infinite endurance, high speed, and abundant electrical power, they can greatly enhance blue-water combat capability; the space saved from ship fuel can also be used to carry more carrier-based aircraft fuel and weapon supplies.
According to a Pentagon report submitted to Congress in 2024, the Chinese Navy is the largest in the world, with more than 370 ships and submarines in its combat forces. But the United States remains the country with the most aircraft carriers, with 11 active carriers, all nuclear-powered, including 10 Nimitz-class and one Ford-class, the new generation of carriers.
Chinese military commentator Song Zhongping told Lianhe Zaobao that China’s aircraft carriers are “making small but steady steps,” and that Fujian, commissioned last November, uses electromagnetic catapults and has already achieved a leap in development. If the fourth carrier uses nuclear power, the carrier’s tonnage and aircraft capacity would be further increased, strengthening long-range combat ability.
He further analyzed that the overall combat capability of China’s fourth carrier should surpass the United States’ Ford-class aircraft carriers, because the Ford-class still has issues with electromagnetic catapult systems; China’s stealth aircraft, heavy carrier-based aircraft J-15T, and carrier-based fixed-wing early warning aircraft KJ-600 are already in service.
Song Zhongping also assessed that the PLA video’s deterrence target is the United States rather than Taiwan; “Taiwan independence forces are not worth deterring with a nuclear-powered carrier.”
Ding Shufan, Honorary Professor at the Institute of East Asian Studies, National Taiwan University, analyzed that the U.S. military has used nuclear power for over 30 years, with current submarines and aircraft carriers all powered by nuclear energy; mainland China is the first to put nuclear power on an aircraft carrier, “we still don’t know what the situation will be.”
He also speculated that because the PLA is under high-pressure anti-corruption campaigns, including weapons systems and equipment such as aircraft carriers, deliveries may not come quickly. “In principle, due to concerns about corruption causing quality issues, each step must be inspected, and the weaponry’s acceptance process will become lengthy.”
At the end of the PLA promotional video, there is a short scene set at the gate of Yantai’s “Unified Road Primary School,” showing the captain’s father picking up his son “Little Bay” from school, strongly implying that Taiwan will eventually reunify with mainland China.
In the video, the captain’s father picks up his son “Little Bay” after school, and the boy, being mischievous, says: “I don’t want to go home, I want to play outside a bit longer.” The father pats Little Bay’s head and taps his nose, smiling and saying, “Little Bay, don’t stall, mom is waiting at home.” Then the father and son hold hands and walk home together. Some netizens believe that “stalling” refers to Lai Ching-te, and interpret this father-son dialogue as a message to Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te.
Ding Shufan said that though this segment attempts to be warm, within the backdrop of showcasing mainland China’s naval power, “it feels like you can’t escape from us (Taiwan); it’s warmth with intimidation.