What is China’s Naval Ambitions

The 4th anniversary of escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast carried out by the taskforces of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). People's Daily

Blue Means Blue: China’s Naval Ambitions -- Henry Holst, The Diplomat

Numerous articles in Chinese state media suggest it has an ambitious agenda for its navy.

In a 2012 article published in The Diplomat, Andrew Erickson and Gabe Collins claim “China seeks to develop a ‘blue water’ navy in the years to come—but one that is more ‘regional’ than ‘global’ in nature,” and that China does not intend to challenge U.S. naval hegemony. However, analyzing China’s maritime identity, a concept that will be explained below, and it becomes clear that two major long-term goals of the PLAN’s blue-water modernization are to frequently deploy outside East Asia and challenge U.S. naval dominance on the high seas.

Erickson and Collins cite Chinese naval technological inferiority in areas such as anti-submarine warfare and area-air defense vis-à-vis the U.S. navy as evidence that the PLAN does not intend to challenge U.S. naval hegemony, concluding that such a military imbalance would make any challenge futile. Additionally, Erickson and Collins use the small number of PLAN deployments outside of East Asia as proof that in the future Beijing does not aim to frequently outside its immediate environs.

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My Comment: As a China watcher and one who has been visiting China regularly since the mid-1980s .... the Chinese have always been open on what are their military ambitions. For the navy .... they have made it clear that their goal is to have 4 to 5 modern aircraft carrier battle groups, proper supply ships, submarines, and the naval aircraft to back all of this up.