China has conducted its first fighter jet landing on its new aircraft carrier in a move that extends Beijing's ability to project its growing military might in territorial disputes.

The Chinese-made J-15 made the successful landing on the country's first aircraft carrier Liaoning, a former Soviet carrier, during recent exercises, the defence ministry said.

The Liaoning went into service in September in a symbolic milestone for China's growing military muscle that comes at a time when Beijing is increasingly embroiled in a series of territorial disputes with its neighbours.

"The successful landing... has always been seen as a symbol of the operating combat capability for an aircraft carrier," Zhang Junshe, a vice director at the military's Naval Affairs Research Institute, told state television.

"This is a landmark event for China's aircraft carrier... and [moves it] one step closer to combat readiness."

Video carried by China Central Television showed a tail hook on the rear of the J-15 catching hold of a cable on the deck of the aircraft carrier as the jet landed and slowed to a halt.

China had not previously announced that its navy possessed such highly technical cable landing technology.

Vice-Admiral Zhang Yongyi, the commander-in-chief in charge of the tests and training program told state media: "It's like dancing on a knifepoint as the aircraft have to land on a very limited space."

"We have done all these test flights from the very beginning, and finally we mastered the key skills for the landing of carrier-borne aircraft."

The J-15 had also successfully taken off from the aircraft, the ministry said.

The J-15 is a Chinese designed multi-purpose carrier-borne fighter jet based on Russia's Sukoi 33, equipped with Russian engines and capable of carrying precision-guided bombs, press reports said.

China bought the stripped-down 300-metre aircraft carrier from Ukraine nearly 10 years ago and refurbished it at the north-eastern port of Dalian.

Construction of the vessel, formerly known as the Varyag, was commissioned by the former Soviet Union more than 20 years ago, but work halted with the sudden collapse of the Soviet bloc.

AFP