China's aircraft carrier docks at Qingdao(2)

After being commissioned by the PLA navy on Sept 25, the Liaoning underwent a series of sea trials and tests, including landing and takeoff for the J-15 fighter jet.

Qingdao is the carrier's first homeport in China, but it will not be the last, Zhang said.

"Ideally each of the navy's three fleets should have at least one port that can accommodate their future aircraft carriers.

"The United States navy has five carrier homeports in the continental US and three offshore ones, enabling it to operate and project power around the globe," he added.

"The North Sea Fleet now has Qingdao. And when it comes to the East Sea Fleet and the South Sea Fleet, I think Zhoushan (in Zhejiang province) and Sanya (in Hainan province) will probably become their carrier's homeports."

There has been widespread speculation in the Western media that Sanya would be the homeport for the next carrier.

"Whether Sanya could be home to our second carrier depends on a variety of factors such as the international situation and our military strategy, so it is too early to make that conclusion,'' Zhang said.

A homeport must meet a number of criteria and a host of factors favored Qingdao, said Li Jie, a professor at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute.

"When the Liaoning was still being refitted at the Dalian shipyard, our planners have begun to pick a suitable homeport." 

Liu Jiangping, a military expert, told the Beijing News that a homeport must have more than 5 million square meters of sea area and the maximum water depth must exceed 25 meters.

The military port in Qingdao also has a dry dock that belongs to the North Sea Fleet, which can repair or maintain all major surface vessels of the fleet, according to Kanwa Defense Review, a Canadian online magazine on defense affairs and weapon technology.

The publication said that the Qingdao port is less than 570 km away from the western coast of South Korea and 970 km from Nagasaki in Japan, which means the Liaoning will conduct its training within the boundaries of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea.