BEIJING, March 23 (UPI) -- China will commission its first aircraft carrier into active although limited service Aug. 1.
The Chinese navy will take over the 55,000-ton vessel, purchased as an unfinished project from Ukraine in 1998 and deploy it in the increasingly political arena of the South China Sea, the Shanghai Daily newspaper reported.
China's People's Liberation Army Deputy Navy Commander Xu Hongmeng confirmed the commissioning and other tests to the newspaper.
China bought the hull of the unfinished vessel in 1998, with no guns and engines, from a Ukrainian shipyard where it had been under construction. It was left unfinished after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, leaving Ukraine with Soviet bases and equipment.
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