China Teases Next Aircraft Carrier

China may soon announce the construction of a fourth aircraft carrier, a senior naval officer said on Tuesday. The Chinese Navy’s political commissar, Admiral Yuan Huazhi, spoke in a video interview posted by the Chinese state-owned newspaper the Hong Kong Commercial Daily on the social media platform Weibo. “China’s aircraft carrier is not just built to compete with the United States, but to protect the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and protect the country’s rights and interests,” Yuan said, during the interview with the newspaper. The admiral’s comments, delivered on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress (NPC), are noteworthy…