The PLA Navy’s aircraft carrier base in Hainan could prove vital to the fleet’s survivability and crucial in countering US containment along the first island chain in wartime, according to a prominent mainland Chinese magazine.

Such a posture could also support efforts to impose a maritime blockade around Taiwan in the event of a conflict, Defence Review reported this month.

China now operates three aircraft carriers: the Liaoning, the Shandong, and the most advanced, the catapult-equipped Fujian, a vessel commissioned last year and with its homeport in a military port in Sanya in southern Hainan province.

The Sanya naval complex includes the Yulin Naval Base in the city’s eastern suburbs, which serves as an important surface fleet and submarine support facility.

The country’s second carrier Shandong is also mainly based in Sanya, while the Liaoning’s homeport is the city of Qingdao in eastern Shandong province, which is also the headquarters of the navy’s North Sea Fleet.

The Hainan base could be considered more strategically important given its geographic location, especially as China faced persistent pressure from the US and its allies in the first island chain, the magazine said.