China eyes to close military gap with US

China has put into service its new generation J-20 stealth fighter, a warplane it hopes will narrow the military gap with the United States, as senior naval officers said the country was building a "first class" navy and developing a marine corps.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is overseeing a sweeping modernisation of the country's armed forces, the largest in the world, including anti-satellite missiles and advanced submarines, seeking to project power far from its shores.

In a report late on Thursday, state television's military channel confirmed that the J-20 had now entered service, though it gave no other details.

However questions remain whether the new Chinese fighter can match the radar-evading properties of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor air-to-air combat jet, or the latest strike jet in the US arsenal, Lockheed's F-35.

China showed off another stealth fighter it's developing, the J-31, at the last Zhuhai airshow in 2014. China hopes the J-31 will compete with the US-made F-35 stealth aircraft.

The navy is another key focus for China. China's navy has been taking an increasingly prominent role in recent months, with a rising star admiral taking command, its first aircraft carrier sailing around self-ruled Taiwan and new Chinese warships popping up in far-flung places.

With President Donald Trump promising a US shipbuilding spree and unnerving Beijing with his unpredictable approach on hot button issues including Taiwan and the South and East China Seas, China is pushing to narrow the gap with the US Navy.

Wang Weiming, deputy chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army Navy, told Xinhua on the sidelines of the annual meeting of parliament that China is speeding up the development of a marine corps, adding destroyers and frigates and will step up air and sea patrols.

China's second, domestically-developed aircraft carrier is in "good shape" and now awaiting fitting, he added, in comments reported late Thursday. Experts expect it will enter service around 2020, joining China's existing, Soviet-built carrier the Liaoning.