China Just Exposed America’s ‘Carrier Gap’ in the Pacific Again

Newsweek · John Feng · 2026-11-03 15:34 UTC

Chinese warships are filling the gaping holes left by the United States in the Pacific.

A satellite photograph has captured China putting its newest aircraft carrier to sea in the same week the United States sends away its only flattop in the region to fight Iran, opening another “carrier gap” on the front line of America’s most important rivalry.

Since becoming China’s paramount leader in 2012, Xi Jinping has taken a personal interest in the development of the People’s Liberation Army Navy into a modern fighting force, whose first objective is to defeat the U.S. Navy within the Western Pacific’s first island chain, where the U.S. has long maintained a series of alliances to keep communist powers in check.

China’s long-term goal is to field a “world-class military” by the middle of the century, but it doesn’t have to displace America everywhere to cause serious pain—it only needs to keep U.S. interests in Asia further out of reach.

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