Overtaking Russia

While Russia's submarine capabilities remain better than China's, China's naval power has likely surpassed the Russian fleet:

The PLA Navy now boasts a larger fleet of over 300 vessels while Russia has about 233 warships.

Also, most Russian naval power is in Europe and not the Pacific.

And the Chinese vessels are far more likely to be new and seaworthy, I imagine.

This transition could be relevant if China wants to stomp an inferior power that still has a reputation of great power status to signal their rise to power.