President Xi Jinping attended the commissioning and flag-presenting ceremony of the Fujian, China’s first aircraft carrier equipped with electromagnetic catapults, at a naval port in Sanya, Hainan Province, on Wednesday. Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, boarded the vessel to conduct an inspection following the ceremony.
The Fujian, bearing hull number 18, is one of three aircraft carriers currently in service with the Chinese navy. Named after Fujian Province in east China, the carrier was independently designed and built in China and was launched in June 2022. About 2,000 representatives from the navy and institutions involved in the ship’s construction attended the ceremony.
During the event, Xi presented the flag of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to the captain and political commissar of the Fujian and took a group photo with them. Aboard the carrier, he was briefed on China’s aircraft carrier development and learned about the ship’s systematic combat capabilities and the electromagnetic catapult system.
On the flight deck, new-generation carrier-based aircraft, including the J-35 and J-15T fighter jets and the KongJing-600 early warning aircraft, were lined up in sequence. Xi spoke with carrier-based pilots, encouraging them to continue honing their skills and contributing to the combat readiness of the Fujian.
Xi also visited the control tower on the carrier’s island section to learn about flight command and takeoff and landing operations. In the pilot house, he signed the ship’s log book. The adoption of the electromagnetic catapult system was a decision made personally by Xi, and during his tour, he visited the control area of this system to observe its operational procedures.
In addition to inspecting the vessel’s combat systems, Xi toured the crew’s living quarters and dining facilities to review the living conditions of the officers and sailors on board. Senior officials Cai Qi and Zhang Guoqing attended the ceremony, which was presided over by Zhang Shengmin.
