BEIJING (AP) ― China’s first aircraft carrier is headed for its permanent base in the northern port of Qingdao, where it will be responsible for operations in waters surrounding Japan and the Korean Peninsula, reports said Wednesday.

Speculation has swirled over where the ship, christened the Liaoning, would call home since it officially entered service on Sept. 25 amid a series of maritime disputes between China and its neighbors, particularly Japan, with which it is engaged in a tense standoff over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Qingdao is home to China’s Northern Fleet, which is responsible for operations in the Yellow Sea, East Sea, and parts of the East China Sea, as well as the Bohai Gulf, about 150 kilometers from Beijing.

The Global Times newspaper reported the carrier left its temporary base in the northeastern port of Dalian on Tuesday for the first sea trials of the year following a three-month refitting. The paper, published by the ruling Communist Party’s flagship People’s Daily, said the ship would end the cruise by formally taking up residency in Qingdao, but gave no date for its arrival.

The Liaoning is a refurbished Soviet-era carrier purchased from Ukraine that China has described as an experimental model. China is believed to have plans to use its experience with the Liaoning to build four or more carriers of its own, one or more of which will be based at the southern island province of Sanya, which faces the South China Sea.

China’s claim to ownership of the entire South China Sea and its island groups is contested by Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, and Malaysia.

While the Liaoning doesn’t yet have an aircraft complement or battle group, the carrier program has been the most eye-catching element of China’s comprehensive naval buildup, which also includes ballistic missile submarines, modern destroyers, and a new generation of stealth missile frigates, the first of which was launched Monday at Shanghai’s naval shipyard.

The navy conducted test arrested landings on the Liaoning in November using J-15 carrier fighters based on Russia’s Su-33.