A commissioning and flag-presenting ceremony of the Fujian, China's third aircraft carrier and the first that it has both designed and built itself, equipped with electromagnetic catapults, seen on right at a naval port in Sanya city in southern China's Hainan Province. (Li Gang/Xinhua via AP)
The Fujian’s launch also reignited debate over the use of electromagnetic catapults — a technology Beijing has embraced and one that President Donald Trump has publicly criticized as unreliable.
Speaking aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington while visiting sailors in Japan, Trump announced his intention to sign an executive order directing the United States Navy to revert to steam-powered catapults and hydraulic elevators on new carriers, rejecting the modern electromagnetic system (EMALS) as too costly, unreliable and difficult to repair.
"They’re spending billions to build stupid electric. And the problem is, when it breaks, you have to send it up to MIT.... The steam — you can fix it with a hammer and a blowtorch. And it works just as well, if not better," Trump said.
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The U.S. has 11 aircraft carriers in operation, like the USS Theodore Roosevelt pictured above. ( U.S. Navy via Getty Images)
Kihara told reporters that Japan believes China is working to extend its naval and air operations farther from its shores and warned that Tokyo will "calmly but decisively respond" to any potential threats.
The United States maintains a carrier strike group presence in the western Pacific and conducts regular freedom-of-navigation operations near disputed islands to counter China’s territorial assertions.
A senior War Department official told Fox News Digital this week: "China’s military buildup sends a signal to all that Beijing intends to use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific."
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Still, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and his Chinese counterpart appeared to smooth over some tensions in a meeting last week, agreeing to establish military-to-military communications channels to "deconflict."
"We have more meetings on that coming soon. God bless both China and the USA!" Hegseth wrote in a post on X after the meeting.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/china-launches-third-aircraft-carrier-xi-pushes-military-modernization-against-us-influence