PLA Video Prompts Questions About Nuclear Power for China’s Fourth Carrier

Overview

• The PLA posted a dramatized Navy video on WeChat on April 22 to mark the service’s 77th anniversary.
• Military experts cited by a Kyodo Guangzhou dispatch say a recruit’s name in the audio is pronounced the same as the Chinese term for nuclear ship.
• Based on that cue, analysts speculate the fourth carrier now under construction could use nuclear propulsion, but no official confirmation has been given.
• The video also features characters with names that echo Liaoning, Shandong, and Fujian, which are China’s three in-service aircraft carriers.
• Should China field a nuclear-powered carrier, it would gain longer range and endurance without refueling, which would widen naval reach in the Indo-Pacific.