China's Defense Ministry confirmed that China's second aircraft carrier is under construction. The state-run newspaper Xinhua stated that the aircraft carrier is China's first to be built "completely on its own," without using a foreign-made hull or extensive foreign assistance. Recent satellite images shows the carrier under construction in the Chinese harbour of Dalian. The carrier hull is being constructed in two pieces.

The carrier, alternately known in Chinese defence-watching circles as CV-17 (China's first carrier, Liaoning, is CV-16) or Type 001A will have a displacement of 50,000 tons and "will be a base for J-15 'Flying Shark' and other types of aircraft," a Defence Ministry spokesman said. The new carrier will likely have an air wing of approximately 40+ aircraft, including helicopters.

Like the Liaoning, the new carrier will use a "ski jump" to get aircraft into the air, essentially a large ramp placed at one end of the aircraft carrier to shoot planes in the sky. While ski jumps designs allow for heavier payloads on planes launched from a flat deck, they are unable to match the muscle of the catapult design used by nearly all American aircraft carriers—which is why China is known to be working on an electromagnetic system (similar to the American EMALS) to launch planes. Still, their continued use of a ski jump suggests it has not yet perfected the technology.

That one carrier is under construction—and not two—suggests China is not satisfied with the ski jump method. China is believed to have been given access to steam catapult technology via Brazil's French-made aircraft carrier, but they seem willing wait for the higher-tech solution of an electromagnetic catapults. China appears content to slowly build out its ability to project power on the ocean, without rushing carriers out to sea. With two active aircraft carriers, China will join an elite club.