U.S. defense chief, in first, to visit China's aircraft carrier

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will visit China's sole aircraft carrier when he arrives in the country on Monday, a U.S. official said, in an unprecedented opening by Beijing to a potent symbol of its military buildup.The official believed Hagel would be the first official visitor from outside China to be allowed on board the Liaoning, although that could not be immediately confirmed.

China's Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment although Chinese state television noted Hagel would visit the ship. Chinese security experts said Beijing could be trying to quell U.S. criticism that it was not transparent about its military modernization.Hagel's planned carrier visit, which will come at the start of his three-day trip to China, was quietly approved by Beijing at Washington's request, the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.The 60,000-tonne Liaoning, a Soviet-era vessel bought from Ukraine in 1998 and re-fitted in a Chinese shipyard, is seen as a symbol of Beijing's growing naval power and ambition for greater global influence.

The carrier has yet to become fully operational, however, and military experts say it could be decades before China catches up to the far superior and larger U.S. carriers - if ever.Hagel will fly to China's port city of Qingdao after a trip to Japan, and then head to a Chinese naval base. While there, he will visit the Liaoning, the U.S. official said.

Reporters traveling with Hagel were not expected to accompany him on the vessel, in what would also be a rare visit to a sensitive Chinese military site."It's a sign of openness, of sincerity, that China has nothing to hide and wants to improve military relations with the United States," said Ni Lexiong, a naval expert at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/07/us-usa-china-hagel-idUSBREA350PR20140407