BEIJING — China has come its closest yet to confirming that it is building a second aircraft carrier, as Beijing seeks to extend its military reach amid deepening maritime tensions with neighbouring countries.

The People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, quoted top officials as confirming the craft’s construction. The ship is reportedly being built in a shipyard in the north-eastern city of Dalian, where China’s first carrier, the Liaoning, was refitted before going into service in 2012.

Until now the military has tried to keep the second carrier a secret and at least two reports in Chinese media about the ship have been censored.

“I don’t think there is any particular timing … Information about a new indigenous Chinese aircraft carrier has been dribbling out for years now,” said Mr Richard Bitzinger, senior fellow and coordinator of military transformations programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.