Chinese navy leads the world in the number of warships, overtakes the US: report
The Chinese naval fleet became the largest in the world by the end of 2020 when its total number of warships surpassed the United States, according to an estimate by a U.S. naval intelligence agency.
“China’s navy battle force has more than tripled in size in only two decades,” read a joint report in December by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard. The report cited Office of Naval Intelligence data, showing that the People’s Liberation Army Navy had 360 battle force ships in its fleet at the end of 2020.
“Already commanding the world’s largest naval force, the People’s Republic of China is building modern surface combatants, submarines, aircraft carriers, fighter jets, amphibious assault ships, ballistic nuclear missile submarines, large coast guard cutters and polar icebreakers at alarming speed,” the report added.
The report also cited China’s “robust shipbuilding infrastructure,” with multiple shipyards that exceeded those in the United States in both size and throughput.
China’s shipbuilding industry accounted for 40.1% of the global market in 2018 in terms of gross tonnage, according to data by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
“The PLAN is not receiving junk from China’s shipbuilding industry but rather increasingly sophisticated, capable vessels,” Andrew Erickson, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute, wrote in a paper in February.
Despite the PLAN’s strength numerically, its aircraft carrier battle wings do not match the U.S. Navy’s fleet in terms of capability, analysts said. China’s first carrier, the Liaoning, is designed for air defense and not to strike, said Erickson’s February paper.
“A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, its air wing, is more powerful than most countries’ entire air forces,” Eric Wertheim, editor of the U.S. Naval Institute’s “Combat Fleets of the World,” told CNN.
Click
here for Chinese version
---------------------------------
Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app:
bit.ly/2yMMfQETo download the latest version,
Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play