
China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, the Shandong, arrived in Hong Kong on Thursday, shortly after the city marked 28 years of Chinese rule. Commissioned in 2019 and over 300 meters long, the Shandong is Beijing’s second carrier and a key component of President Xi Jinping’s naval expansion strategy. The carrier, accompanied by destroyers Zhanjiang and Yanan, and frigate Yuncheng, will spend five days in the city, offering public tours and cultural exchanges. It recently completed drills with the Liaoning in the western Pacific.