China's newest aircraft carrier transits Taiwan Strait ahead of possible commissioning

China has, over the past five years or so, stepped up its military presence around Taiwan, including staging war games, to assert its sovereignty claims.

The Fujian, designed and built domestically, is larger and more advanced than the Shandong, commissioned in late 2019, and the Liaoning, which China bought second-hand from Ukraine in 1998.

With a flat deck and electro-magnetic catapults to launch aircraft, the Fujian is expected to host a larger and wider range of planes than the other two carriers - including early-warning aircraft and, eventually, China's first carrier-capable stealth jet fighters.