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| China's 1st Carrier Battle Group under-way (File Photo) |
In an editorial published Friday to mark the anniversary of China's navy, the official military outlet PLA Daily suggested that the nation needs six aircraft carriers, an enlarged marine corps and ten naval bases in friendly foreign nations.
"In the long run, China needs to develop its own aircraft carrier battle teams, with at least six aircraft carriers, maritime forces led by guided missile destroyers, as well as attack submarines," said Xu Guangyu, a senior advisor to the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association. "China will build about ten more bases for the [carriers] . . . Hopefully, China could have bases in every continent, but that depends on countries which would like to cooperate with China."
The PLA Daily said that the purpose of the enlarged carrier fleet would be to enable the PLA(N) to "break through" the first island chain (Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines) to exert its power in the Western Pacific.
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