China has begun constructing the second of four planned aircraft carriers, days after its first such warship completed a series of tests and training programmes in the South China Sea.
The ship is being built in the northeastern port of Dalian and will take six years to complete, Wang Min, Communist Party chief for Liaoning province was quoted as saying in media reports today.
Another two are in the pipeline, he said.
China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was completed in September 2012. It was based on an unfinished carrier of the former Soviet Union.
The Liaoning conducted its maiden mission in January amidst mounting tensions over Beijing's territorial row over a chain of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.
The row continued to soar, along with other sovereignty disputes with the Philippines and Vietnam.
In November last year, China's unilateral declaration of an Air Defence Identification Zone over an area covering the disputed islands sparked an international furore.
