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http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/26/asia/china-second-aircraft-carrier-launch/
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Beijing (CNN)The first aircraft carrier designed and built in China was launched Wednesday amid streamers and champagne.
The as-yet unnamed vessel is China's second aircraft carrier. Early on Wednesday morning it was towed from Dalian Shipyard, in Liaoning Province, to a nearby wharf, China's Ministry of National Defense said.
China first announced the construction of its new carrier in late December 2015. State media said it would be "independently designed in China."
The new vessel still lags behind its US counterparts technologically, but senior fellow at Sydney's Lowy Institute Sam Roggeveen told CNN it is likely just a "stepping stone" to China's next generation of aircraft carriers.
"It's probably been designed to just get China in the aircraft carrier game, and while this design was just an incremental advance (on the country's first carrier), with the next carrier, which could already be under construction, it will be much closer to a US carrier," he said.
News of the launch comes as tensions mount over North Korea, China's unruly neighbor and ally. However, the carrier isn't expected to enter active service until 2020."
A ship is launched when it is first put into the water -- but the carrier still requires considerable work to complete it. Once operational, the new carrier will likely be officially commissioned in a separate ceremony.
Construction began in November 2013, and just over three years later the main hull has been completed, as well as a number of the vessel's primary systems, including power supply.
"Next, the aircraft carrier will debug its system devices and conduct fitting-out as planned, and start mooring tests," China's military said in a statement.