The remarks came after the commissioning of China's third aircraft carrier, Fujian, on November 5, attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The warship is China's first aircraft carrier equipped with an electromagnetic catapult.
In September 2025, Chinese navy said that it had successfully conducted training exercises to launch J-15T and J-35 fighter jets, as well as KJ-600 early warning aircraft, from the Fujian using its electromagnetic catapult.
The Fujian, launched in June 2022, completed mooring trials last November and has a full displacement of over 80,000 tonnes. The Shandong, China's second aircraft carrier, was delivered to the Chinese navy in November 2019. It is 315 meters (1,033 feet) long, 75 meters wide, displaces 70,000 tonnes, and has a cruising speed of 31 knots. China's first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, was converted from the unfinished Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag, purchased from Ukraine in 1998. First sea trials took place in 2011, and in September 2012, it was commissioned into the Chinese navy.