China’s Fujian carrier may join service next month, Japan link in CCTV video suggests
Video draws parallel between Japanese naval incursions and the Fujian’s readiness to enter service, days before Beijing’s Victory Day parade
The video released on Saturday sought to draw a parallel between the Japanese naval incursions 88 years ago and the Fujian’s readiness to enter service, linking it with the memory of the Japanese invasion.
China will be marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japanese aggression with a military parade on September 3.
The CCTV video opened with views of China State Shipbuilding Corp’s Jiangnan shipyard in Shanghai – where the Fujian was built and launched – before cutting to footage of the carrier at sea.
“In August 2025, China’s first catapult-equipped aircraft carrier, designed and built entirely at home, is preparing for official commissioning. Eighty-eight years ago, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s flagship Izumo prowled in the same waters,” a narrator said.
The video featured naval historian Chen Yue, who said: “The armoured cruiser Izumo’s guns were pointed directly at Shanghai’s urban districts. The money used to buy that warship came from reparations extracted under the Treaty of Shimonoseki. It became a symbol of Japan’s aggression against China.”