China Conducting Trials With Aircraft Carrier

BEIJING (AP) – China’s Defense Ministry says the navy’s only entirely home-built aircraft is carrying out sea trials to test weapons and equipment and enhance crew training. Ministry spokesperson Ren Guoqiang says the exercises are being conducted as planned, apparently unaffected by the country’s coronavirus outbreak. The highly secretive Chinese military was credited with aiding in the response to the epidemic in the epicenter of Wuhan earlier this year, but no information has been released about cases among military personnel or any change in the armed forces’ readiness status. The U.S. Navy, in contrast, saw a public controversy over the spread of the coronavirus aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the firing of the aircraft carrier’s skipper in April.