Naval training was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, but the Shandong – China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier – is now carrying out its first exercises at sea since being commissioned late last year. Collin Koh, a Research Fellow from RSIS, said the new ship needs to test its systems. “After all, the Shandong is a newly built ship. While China has previous experience with carriers from operating the Liaoning, it’s to be remembered that the Liaoning is after all an unfinished Soviet carrier that was purchased from Ukraine and then refurbished and modernised.”