Defense News reports that the Chinese carrier Varyag will sail for sea trials on July 1st, but will not be officially launched until October 2012.
With the increasing tensions in and around the Spratly Islands, the Varyag would be a powerful bargaining tool, especially with countries like the Phillipines or Indonesia who have small and/or aging navies. However, Vietnam and Malaysia both have relatively large and new navies that if used with skill, could pose a threat to any Chinese forays into the Spratley Islands.
With the Varyag close to sailing it will be interesting to see how other Asian countries react to the Varyag in the South China Sea.
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