Beijing's "starter carrier" and future steps: alternatives and implications

After the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, Premier Zhou Enlai and the first commander of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), Xiao Jinguang, supported aircraft carrier development; Mao Zedong himself declared in 1958 that China needed carriers.6 These efforts too were fruitless-China had finally consolidated control over its continental landmass but could not hope to project naval power into American- and Soviet-dominated waters just off its coast, particularly as Maoist excesses convulsed the nation from within. [...] Chinese aircraft-carrier development has been shrouded in internal indecision and external obfuscation.