In show of power, China lands first jet on aircraft carrier
| Shanghai
聽has carried out its first successful landing of a fighter jet on its first aircraft carrier, state media said on Sunday, a symbolically significant development as Asian neighbours fret about the world's most populous country's military ambitions.
The home-built J-15 fighter jet took off from and landed on the Liaoning, a reconditioned Soviet-era vessel from聽聽which only came into service in September this year.
聽ushered in a new generation of leaders this month at the 18th聽听颈苍听, with outgoing President聽聽making a pointed reference to strengthening聽's naval forces, protecting maritime interests and the need to "win local war."
聽is embroiled in disputes with the聽听补苍诲听听辞惫别谤听聽Sea islands believed to be surrounded by waters rich in natural gas. It has a similar dispute with聽聽over islands in the聽听厂别补.
It has also warned the聽, with President Barack Obama's "pivot" to聽, not to get involved.
"We should make active planning for the use of military forces in peacetime, expand and intensify military preparedness, and enhance the capability to accomplish a wide range of military tasks, the most important of which is to win local war in an information age," Hu said.
聽has advertised its long-term military ambitions with shows of new hardware, including its first test flight of a stealth fighter jet in early 2011, an elite helicopter unit and the launch of the aircraft carrier.
聽is boosting military spending by 11.2 percent this year, bringing official outlays on the People's聽聽to 670.3 billion yuan ($100 billion) for 2012, after a 12.7 percent increase last year and a near-unbroken string of double-digit rises across two decades.
's public budget is widely thought by foreign experts to undercount its real spending on military modernisation, which has drawn repeated calls from the聽听蹿辞谤听聽to share more about its intentions.
's state-run Xinhua news portal said the J-15 - which can carry multi-type anti-ship, air-to-air, and air-to-ground missiles - is comparable to the Russian聽聽jet and the U.S. F-18. It did not say when the landing on the carrier took place.
