SpaceWar.com reports: “China’s Fujian aircraft carrier took to the water for maiden sea trials on Wednesday, state media said, a key next step in a vast naval build-up by Beijing as it carves out a more assertive role for itself in the Pacific and beyond.

The Fujian is China’s third aircraft carrier after the Liaoning and the Shandong vessels and is the Chinese navy’s largest-ever ship.

It departed from eastern Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard at around 8:00 am, state news agency Xinhua said.

The trials will ‘primarily test the reliability and stability of the aircraft carrier’s propulsion and electrical systems’, it added.

China has stepped up a massive expansion of its naval forces in recent years, as it seeks to expand its reach in the Pacific and challenge a US-led alliance system.

Tensions have notably flared in the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety, and near the self-ruled island of Taiwan, where it has deployed the Shandong aircraft carrier…”