In January, the new Flat deck aircraft carrier „Fujian“ (315 metres) of the Chinese Navy (PLAN) for further functional and acceptance trials in the Gulf of Bohai.

This is a marginal sea completely enclosed by Chinese territory, which can only be reached from the Yellow Sea in a north-westerly direction via the strait of the same name past the port and shipyard metropolis of Dalian. However, these waters are not very deep (around 30 metres on average), which for a carrier weighing 80,000 tonnes and with an estimated draught of 10 metres is probably considered „shallow water“. On the other hand, the area is well protected from interested observation and is ideally located in terms of flight operations and the crew's general sea operations routine.

At the same time, satellite reconnaissance showed that the two other carriers „Liaoning“ and „Shandong“ (306 metres, 70,000 tonnes) were also busy conducting exercises in the sea areas of the Northern and Southern Fleet. The questions remain as to when they will be commissioned and when these carriers will operate in the Central Pacific or Indian Ocean for the first time.

Recent satellite reconnaissance suggests that the first sections of a more than 100,000 tonne carrier (Type 004 ?) are already being built in Dalian, which could be on a par with the American „Gerald R. Ford“. A recent analysis by the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) concludes that China will have built six more carriers by the mid-1930s and will be able to maintain a permanent presence in the Pacific and Indian Ocean. This changes the world situation.