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WORLD NEWS Friday 2 March 2018

Reports: China plans to build nuclear aircraft carrier

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese a convenient time to re-
media reports say the spond” to questions about
country is planning to build the report. There was no im-
a nuclear-powered air- mediate response to ques-
craft carrier capable of tions faxed to the compa-
remaining at sea for long ny. CSIC was responsible
durations, in what would for extensively refurbishing
be a major upgrade for China’s first aircraft car-
its increasingly formidable rier, the Liaoning, which
navy. The China Shipbuild- arrived as a mostly empty
ing Industry Corp. issued a hull from Ukraine, and for
statement this week saying building the country’s sole
initial work had begun on domestically produced
the ship, the Communist carrier, which is expected
Party newspaper Global to enter service later this
Times and Hong Kong's year. Both are convention-
South China Morning Post ally fueled and must take
said Thursday. The com- on regular deliveries of oil.
pany's statement Tuesday, Nuclear carriers such as the
which the newspapers said U.S. Navy’s Nimitz class can
also mentioned the devel- operate for 20 years with-
opment of new types of nu- out refueling. China has
clear submarines and other In this July 7, 2017 photo, the Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier, sails into Hong Kong for a port the world’s largest navy in
sophisticated technologies, call. Chinese media reports say the country is planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft car- terms of numbers of ships,
was a rare revelation about rier capable of remaining at sea for long durations, in what would mark a major upgrade for its although it lags behind
China's long-term naval increasingly formidable navy. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) the U.S. in technology and
expansion plans. On Thurs- combat capabilities.q
day, however, no mention
such technologies could Maldives denies breaching North Korea sanctions
of nuclear carriers or other
be found on its website. The
Post said the original state- By B. MALLAWARACHI transfers banned by UN- any use of a Maldives flag On Feb.1, the Supreme
ment had been replaced COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) SCR." violates its laws. It also Court ordered the release
with a new one. The Global — The Maldives govern- The Maldives Democratic said the government con- of a group of President Ya-
Times report quoted the ment on Thursday disputed Party, an opposition politi- demned the use of its na- meen Abdul Gayoom's po-
CSIC statement as saying claims by the Japanese for- cal party in Maldives, said tional flag. litical opponents who had
the company saw the need eign ministry that a Maldivi- in a statement Thursday It also said Maldives "gives been imprisoned.
to "accelerate the realiza- an-flagged ship transferred that Xin Yuan 18 is regis- high priority to the imple- The state of emergency
tion of nuclear powered goods to a North Korean- tered in the Maldives and mentation of all resolutions gives wide powers to secu-
aircraft carriers, new-type flagged tanker at sea in that "it is believed that the of the United Nations Secu- rity forces to detain people
nuclear submarines, quiet- violation of a U.N. Security vessels were exchanging rity Council," including reso- and curtail freedom to
type submarines" and vari- Council resolution. crude oil, in violation of UN lutions on North Korea. protest. Yameen had two
ous other sophisticated na- A Japanese foreign min- sanctions on North Korea." This latest development Supreme Court judges ar-
val warfare technologies. istry statement said a Ja- The Maldives president's comes amid mounting in- rested, accusing them of
The goal was to "provide pan Maritime Self-Defense office said in a statement ternational criticism against corruption. Later, the re-
high-quality weapon sys- Force aircraft last week that the vessel was never the Maldives government maining three judges an-
tems for the navy's strategic spotted a North Korean- registered in the country. for declaring a state of nulled the order.
transition to a deep blue flagged tanker alongside A separate statement by emergency and arresting Maldives became a multi-
high seas force by 2025," Xin Yuan 18, a Maldivian- the Maldives foreign min- judges, opposition politi- party democracy after de-
the newspaper quoted the flagged tanker, in the East istry said Maldives does cians and activists in a po- cades of autocratic rule.
statement as saying. A man China Sea. The statement not allow a flag of conve- litical turmoil that has en- Yameen has rolled back
who answered the phone on Tuesday said Japan nience to foreign owned gulfed the Indian Ocean much of the country's dem-
Thursday at the company’s "strongly suspects that they vessels to operate outside archipelago nation for ocratic gains since being
news office said it was “not conducted ship-to-ship Maldivian waters and that weeks elected in 2013.q