China is taking its military might to a new level, completing a round of trials of its first-ever aircraft carrier - a Soviet air-capable cruiser Varyag bought in unfinished condition from Ukraine in 1998. ­Although building the future carrier`s fleet will take time, Beijing is already heralding a new chapter for the country`s naval fleet. China officially stated the new aircraft carrier will serve for scientific research and training of personnel but Forbes business magazine columnist and author Gordon G. Chang says of course it is not and China`s neighbors had better keep a close eye on what is happening. "It is meant to try to intimidate countries in the region, especially in the South China Sea, where China claims the entire body of water as an internal Chinese lake," Chang says. "Of course China wants to project power not only southwards but also northwards, towards Mongolia and Russia." The author sees talk of China`s lost territories as ominous. "Clearly, Beijing wants to get these territories later." Chang believes that no country is quite ready to challenge China right now, and that really bothers both China`s close neighbors and the US. Their concern is compounded by the fact that China`s military build-up is the biggest and fastest in the world today, and includes information technology and cyber war capabilities. "They are clearly putting money into their Navy and Air Force. The only lagger really is the [Chinese] Army. It used to get almost all the money but now China clearly wants a bigger Air Force and Navy so that is where all the money is going into, as well as strategic forces, in other words - nuclear-capable missiles." Another interesting aspect, according to Chang, is that China probably has a bigger national debt than the US. While it likes to lecture about the dollar, China`s debt-to-GDP ratio is "at least as bad as America`s. It is probably almost double. "When you add the hidden debt to the acknowledged debt, China probably has a debt-to-GDP ratio about 150 to 160 per cent," he claims. The columnist reveals that in China military service is becoming much more popular for college graduates because they have "really not been able to find work in the civilian economy so people from the national army have actually done better on recruiting in the last three years." Gordon G. Chang believes that eventually all these military activities are going to undermine China`s foreign policy because of rising concern amongst its neighbors. "The only countries that are not complaining are North Korea and Burma [Myanmar]."