China conducts first test-flight of stealth plane

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by glatt

So why doesn't China have an aircraft carrier?

How long does it take to build up a navy? The are growing really fast. They have basically pulled themselves into the modern world by their bootstraps in a decade. You'd think that would have included a navy.

They've historically had an extremely insular culture, and aircraft carriers are all about projecting force far from your borders. While I'm sure they wouldn't mind having one (Varyag), there are probably plenty of things far higher on their agenda.