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Looking at aircraft carriers around the world, we can find a tendency that as long as a nation is capable, it will be interested in developing aiecraft carriers. However, among five permanent members of United Nation Security Council, China is the last one to propose the idea of building an aircraft carrier. Meanwhile, three of the so-called "golden brics" nations including Brazil, India, Russia have all developed aircraft carriers before.
Among all the permanent UN Security Council members, the United States leads the way, currently with 11 aircraft carriers, including one specifically for operational training purposes. Britain started to build aircraft carriers back in 1913. Just this month, Britain has initiated its largest aircraft carrier project "Queen Elizabeth". Meanwhile, France is the second nation developing nuclear-powered carriers following the US. Moreover, traditional military power Russia has reached a fully-fledged stage in terms of carrier construction technology according to Russian media and other sources, Russia's Kuznetsov aircraft carrier could be undergoing retrofit, and upgraded to a nuclear-driven ship.
Yin Zhuo, military expert said "China has a long way to go to developing a navy. In fact, it is impossible to purchase any carrier-related equipment from western countries, let alone asking for help to build it. However, with economic developments over the past few decades, nowadays China is fiscally and technologically capable of overcoming issues on aircraft carrier construction. And that is the time for Chinese to build its own carrier."
Along with high-speed economic development, China's national interests and rights have reached a new spectrum beyond some strategists and navy experts' expectation. For example, a couple of years ago, experts predicted that by 2011 China's export volume would be close to 2 trillion US dollars. As a matter of fact, by now the actual number has almost reached 3.3 trillion US dollars, 75 percent more than predicted.
Yin Zhuo said "Due to China's interests on the high seas, and maritime security, it is natural for China to have its first aircraft carrier. Compared to other permanent UN Security Council members, China is the last one to develop a carrier."
The expert also pointed out that other nations should not crticize China's plans for the carrier.