--------------------------------Separaterly
(1) Jeremy Page, China Flexes Naval Muscle. Wall Street Journal, Aug 10, 2011.
Quote:
"The Pentagon is also playing down the carrier's significance. Some US officials privately question the quality of Chinese engineering, which came into sharp relief last month with a deadly train crash on the country's high-speed rail network.
"As if to exaggerate the achievement for a fiercely nationalistic audience, China's state television featured no images of the sea trials, and instead used footage of what appeared to be fighter jets taking off from Russian or US carriers. 'From the Opium War in 1840 to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China suffered more than 470 offenses and invasions that came from the seas,' the Xinahua commentary said.
(2) Michael Wines, China Begins Sea Trials of Its First Aircraft Carrier. New York Times, Aug 10, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/11/world/asia/11china.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=china%20carrier&st=cse
("Many experts say the carrier is unlikely to deploy a fighter force until after 2015 because landing a jet on an aircraft carrier is a highly dangerous maneuver that requires years of training")
My comment: VOA Chinese says J-15 is not ready. The NYT says, even if the jet is ready, it will take years before it can take off and land in a, or any, carrier.
(3) Repiorts in both the NYT (above) and Financial Times quote
Gabe Collins and Andrew Erickson, “China’s ‘Starter Carrier’ Goes to Sea,” China SignPost™ (洞察中国), No. 43 (9 August 2011).
http://www.andrewerickson.com/2011/08/china-realizes-carrier-dream/
There is no need to read the FT report or the rest of WSJ report.