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Naval War College Review

Authors

Abstract

That the People’s Republic of China has long toyed with the idea of building aircraft carriers is widely known. It is also clear that a consensus within the Chinese military and political leadership on such a course has proven elusive. There are increasing signs, however, that the long-standing debate on this issue has been resolved in favor of a decision to embrace the aircraft carrier. The questions that remain concern the scope and purpose of a Chinese carrier program (or pro- grams), what it might reveal about current Chinese naval or grand strategy, and what implications it will have for the U.S. Navy over the coming decades.

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