A Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy fleet conducted the year's first open-sea training exercise in the West Pacific Ocean on Thursday morning after sailing through the Miyako Strait as scheduled, military sources revealed. (Xinhua/Li Yun)
Report: Chinese Navy’s Fleet Will Outnumber U.S. by 2020 -- Defense Tech
China has plans to grow its navy to 351 ships by 2020 as the Chinese continue to develop their military’s ability to strike global targets, according to a new report.
The 2014 U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission recommended to Congress the U.S. Navy respond by building more ships and increase its presence in the Pacific region – a strategy they U.S. military has already started.
The commission asked Congress to increase its Pacific fleet up to 67 ships and rebalance homeports such that 60-percent of the force is based in the region by 2020.
The commissions’ recommendations, which are based on Congressional testimony, expert assessments and open-source information on China’s military and U.S.-Chinese relations, are consistent with Pentagon’s stated plans for the region.
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My Comment: China wants to pass the U.S. and become the world's number one military power within 2 or 3 decades .... and this navy buildup is just part of that plan. And while China's navy will not be as modern/effective/and capable as the U.S. navy for a very long time .... the trend is clear .... the Chinese navy will be a force to consider after 2020, and more so in the years after that.
Nope, a ship headcount is bogus. Over half of the PLAN is "ships" under 60 feet in length, small corvettes and patrol boats, and 47% of the PLAN assets, are ancient, 1960's/70's Soviet Clones.
ReplyDeleteChina has one aircraft carrier, that quite simply, is a training/tactics testbed, and they have plans in the next two decades, to develop and build only three modern carriers, none of which are a match for current US Carriers.
With the wars winding down, the sequester and the economy flatlined, with another Fiscal collapse on the horizion, the MIC is pushing as hard as they can to make sure any money that's there, get's dpent on guns, not butter.
I know that the Chinese navy is small and ineffective .... and economic problems coupled with internal political unrest can (and probably will) easily disrupt these plans. But their goal has remained unchanged for the past two decades .... and that is to be the world's #1 military power in a few decades. Whether or not they get there .... we shall know in about 20 - 30 years.
ReplyDeleteNobody in any position of authority in China, has stated that as their goal.
ReplyDeleteThe only people making that claim, are the US's Ususal Suspects.
Jay ... I lived in China in the mid 1980s .... and I have been going there at least every two years to visit friends and contacts. Officially there has never been any mention on what are the long term military goals for the Chinese military .... but starting in the late 1990s .... a debate has started (among officials, pundits, commentators, etc.) in China on what will be these goals. Everyone has always mentioned that China should go through stages .... dominant power in Asia .... and then followed by becoming a major power (if not the major power) on the international scene. I discounted this talk at that time .... but in the past 20 years the trend .... and it is all about the trend .... has been to fulfill these goals. Though officially .... this has never been articulated by any senior government official. But it is also true that some in the U.S. .... and more specifically in Japan .... have pushed the "boogey-man" picture of China for a long time.
ReplyDeleteI have notice in this and other pictures of Chinese Naval units some interesting mast structures.
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