china launches aircraft carrier

<p><span style="line-height: 1.42857;">China has launched a new aircraft carrier, boosting its military presence amid rising tensions in the region.</span><br></p><p>It is the country's second aircraft carrier, after the Liaoning, and the first to be made domestically.</p><p>State media said the unnamed ship was "transferred from dry dock into the water" in the north east port of Dalian. Previous reports said it would be operational by 2020.</p><p>It comes amid heated rhetoric between the US and North Korea in recent days.</p><p><img src="https://topnepalnews.comuploads/posts/d8b1570080bf6b4561ddba992c5c008a1493192837.jpg" style="width: 640px;"><br></p><p><br></p><p>China has had only one operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which it bought from Ukraine and refitted.</p><p>The US has deployed warships and a submarine to the Korean peninsula, prompting an angry reaction from North Korea. China, meanwhile, has urged for calm.</p><div><br></div>