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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nokia_owner" data-source="post: 4565604" data-attributes="member: 27747">China is constructing a major underground nuclear submarine base near Sanya, Hainan. In December 2007 the first Type 094 submarine was moved to Sanya.[1] The Daily Telegraph on 1 May 2008 reported that tunnels were being built into hillsides which could be capable of hiding up to 20 nuclear submarines from spy satellites. According to the Western news media the base is reportedly to help China project seapower well into the Pacific Ocean area, including challenging United States naval power.[3][4]During a 2008 interview with the BBC, Major General Qian Lihua, a senior Chinese defense official, stated that the PLAN aspired to possessing a small number of aircraft carriers to allow it to expand China's air defense perimeter. [5] According to Qian the important issue was not whether China had an aircraft carrier, but what it did with it. [5]At the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the PLAN, 52 vessels were shown in manoeuvres off Qingdao in April 2009 including previously unseen nuclear submarines. The demonstration was seen as a sign of the growing superpower status of China, while the president, Hu Jintao, indicated that China is neither seeking regional hegemony nor entering an arms race</blockquote>

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