The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) looks very shiny and is very big. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) clearly values it given the cost of building it. What's its purpose?
Really interesting article on the naval balance with China:
Xi may come to see the PLAN, the protector of the Communist Party rather than China, as key to the preservation of his status in the Politburo. He may fear the political repercussions of the abrupt sinking of the PLAN, in a manner similar to the Qing Dynasty’s 1895 loss of the Beiyang fleet during the Sino-Japanese War. A PLAN fleet-in-being inadequate to break a U.S. blockade, but expensive and politically salient to Beijing, may ultimately be held hostage by the U.S. and its allies.
It has a lot of interesting details--especially VLS counts. But the author seems to digress a lot, really, for no useful purpose.
What most interests to me is that question of whether the CCP need its shiny new navy as a symbol of its power that it cannot risk in a war. Good question, as I note in this data dump:
Potemkin military with Chinese characters? I wouldn't assume the PLA can't fight. But perhaps its main purpose is to be shiny and look like a great achievement of Xi Jinping.
What's the PLAN's function? Does it have a military mission? For all its shiny new ships, China does have a problem using its fleet:
[U.S. Navy Fleet Forces Command Admiral Daryl] Caudle also said a projected increase in China’s fleet comes with challenges, including increased munitions purchases and crew.
“You have to crew all those ships. You have to sustain all those ships. You’ve got to have a place for them to moor” and have housing for the crew, he said. “So it’s not just buying ships.”
If the PLAN function really is sea control, does it have the training and logistics to fight for sea control? But if it is eye candy on Xi's arm, it's good to go.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
NOTE: You may also like to read my posts on Substack, at The Dignified Rant: Evolved. Go ahead and subscribe to it. You know you want to.
NOTE: I made the image with Bing.
