HONG KONG -- For China-watchers, the puzzling China contrast is between a nation that sends the capsule Shenzhou 3 into space and one that drags a seemingly useless rusty hull halfway around the globe. China's first aircraft carrier has finally arrived in port, but the mystery remains as to what conceivable value it can be to the modernization of the Chinese military.
The carrier is the never-completed, never-commissioned former Soviet, former Ukrainian 56,000-ton, 331-meter-long Varyag, sister ship of the only aircraft carrier presently serving in the Russian Navy, the Admiral Kuznetsov, which is part of Russia's Northern Fleet.
Now, after an epic journey lasting nearly 18 months, during which it had to be towed all the way, informed sources indicate that the Varyag has finally arrived in Chinese waters. It is further understood that the Varyag has been taken to the northern port and naval base of Dalian.