The launch of China's first aircraft carrier should not cause strategic anxieties throughout Asia. Far from posing a threat to maritime stability, China's new naval behemoth will remain vulnerable and easy to contain, according to an article on the website of The Australian on Sept 6, 2011.

Actually, China's refurbished Varyag, an entry-level carrier by 21st-century standards, has many technical limitations, says the article. In tonnage terms, it's little more than half the size of a US supercarrier. The Varyag will max out at 60 aircraft and remain at sea for just 45 sea days. While the US navy has been operating carriers since the mid-1930s, China is yet to incorporate the Varyag's new and largely untested weapons and sensors into operating procedures and crew expertise.

Also, China's carrier will be hard-pressed to generate much airpower, it notes. "Unlike US ships, the Varyag employs a less sophisticated ski-jump style launch system, meaning fighter jets take off from a ramp on the deck. As this imposes limits on an aircraft's weight, China's J-15s - its only carrier-based fighter - will have to skimp on weapons and fuel to launch from the ship, reducing their combat radius."

"Nor can the Varyag accommodate heavy refuelling assets or fixed-wing surveillance planes - further undermining the J-15s' range and leaving both ship and aircraft vulnerable to aerial attack from afar," it says.

Given the PLA navy's nascent command, control and logistics procedures, it will be decades before Chinese carriers are ready for combat, says the article. "Further afield, China's carrier lacks the logistical network to patrol, let alone fight, great distances from home - rendering Beijing's blue-water ambitions a faraway dream."

So the purpose of China's shiny new ship, believes the article, is that the Varyag can be used to be a training carrier "to prod the PLA navy up a steep learning curve". In addition, says the article, the Varyag's real meaning probably lies in "Beijing's pursuit of prestige", as China is the only permanent member of the UN Security Council yet to operate a fully functioning carrier - a humiliating fact for millions of Chinese."