What you need to know: China’s recent construction of a prototype land-based nuclear reactor demonstrates its determination to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, elevating the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) from a regional force to a challenger global.

– Unlike its current carriers, designed to operate in China’s No Access/Area Zone (A2/AD), a nuclear-powered carrier would extend Beijing’s reach beyond the first island chain, potentially as far as the third island chain, including Hawaii. .

-This development poses a serious strategic challenge to the United States, with China poised to dominate the Indo-Pacific and threaten U.S. trade and influence in Asia and perhaps beyond.

China prepares its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier

Also file this one under “quantity has a quality of its own.” A report from Asia this week reports that China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has built a prototype land-based nuclear reactor for a “large surface warship.”

This is a clear sign that the Chinese are working diligently to produce their country’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. No, this does not mean that China intends to become a surging superpower like the Americans have done. This means that China is building an overwhelming maritime support force to inevitably blockade or invade neighboring Taiwan – and to dominate its near abroad.

Why aircraft carriers?

As I noted in early essays on this site, Chinese carriers are not the centerpiece of their naval strategy. They are designed (at least for now) to operate under the protective hood that the Chinese military advanced anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) systems in the region to provide for Chinese forces.

These A2/AD networks keep U.S. warships and aircraft above the horizon while allowing Chinese forces to crush their local enemies (those local enemies ultimately rely on U.S. military guarantees to survive and if the Americans cannot fulfill these guarantees, then China will win).

But the construction of a potentially nuclear carrier shows that Beijing has ambitions to go beyond the protective bubble of its regional A2/AD network. It will take China years to build and perfect such a system – let alone mass produce it.

The three Chinese carriers currently possessed (there’s a fourth on the way) are destined for regional domination. The proposed nuclear system, however, is truly intended to challenge the Americans on a global scale (which is likely where the Chinese will encounter some problems since there is no global carrier force as advanced as the US Navy fleet ).

Then again, if China were on track to build multiple nuclear-powered carriers, it could expand its threat to U.S. forces beyond the aforementioned A2/AD bubbles, thereby complicating approaches by U.S. warships beyond the first island chain (which includes Taiwan), and extending their threat to the third island chain (which includes the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and, more importantly, Hawaii).

Part of an insidious plot

Once again, it is the inevitable next step of China’s master plan to dominate its near neighborhood and prevent the United States from becoming the dominant power in this region. The problems with this are twofold. First, the United States still depends on Asian trade. It is a key market for U.S. exports, representing 59% of all total US exports in 2023according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). Losing access to the region would be devastating to the U.S. economy. Second, once China secures its grip on the Indo-Pacific, it will naturally move beyond that region and into the Western Hemisphere.

We were warned, but we didn’t notice

Chinese nuclear carriers could then become a key power projection tool for China in our own hemisphere. Of course, we could create our own A2/AD networks to complicate China’s ability to intervene in our part of the world as much as it has in theirs.

But ultimately, China’s military threat has reached a new level. Barring an unforeseen economic or domestic political crisis, China will become the next great superpower. Washington is not prepared for such a sobering reality – nor for how quickly this painful reality will descend upon the United States.

About the author:

Brandon J. Weicherta national security project of national interest analystis a former congressman and geopolitical analyst who contributes to The Washington Times, Asia Times, and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is available for purchase wherever books are sold. Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

Image credit: Creative Commons.