Expect to see the Type 001A Shandong officially commissioned on April 23 —  a date marking the 68th anniversary of PLAN.

A report from the Diplomat suggests that while Shandong is 32 years newer, it won’t be much bigger. It will displace 65,000 tons of water, compared with Liaoning’s 60,000.

When China increases military investment, a significant portion of new spending tends to be allocated toward expanding China’s maritime presence. The PLAN has “really been the beneficiary of a lot of this new spending in the past 15 years,” according to expert Richard Bitzinger, a fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.