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China's decision to purchase the Soviet-era aircraft carrier Varyag from Ukraine and refit it for service could delay its progress in developing its own aircraft carrier, Vasily Kashin, a senior researcher from the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies has told the Sputnik, a Russian multimedia news service.
Kashin said that China chose Ukraine, a former member of Soviet Union, for political and ideological purposes. Because both nations have operated Soviet weapons systems, China believes that it should be easier for the PLA Navy to integrate the Soviet-era carrier rather than using a Western design.
However, Kashin said China may have got its first aircraft carrier earlier if it had not bought the Varyag and had rather acquired the technologies it needs through purchasing decommissioned aircraft carriers from the West. China bought the HMAS Melbourne, a decommissioned aircraft carrier from the Royal Australian Navy, back in 1985 but used it for scrap metal rather than using it for research, Kashin said.
Read the full story at Want China Times