The Modern Chinese Navy: What Are Its Strength And Weakness?

As of 2023, what are the strengths of the Chinese Navy? What are its remaining weaknesses? What is China doing to resolve its military shortcomings?

CHAPTERS
01:00 – Surface Combatants
09:17 – Nuclear Submarine Force
15:33 – Naval Aviation

Keywords: PLA Navy, PLAN, modern warships, Liaoning, Shandong, Type 003, Type 055, Type 052D, Type 052C, Type 054A, Type 056A, corvettes, destroyers, aircraft carriers, submarines, Type 093A, Type 093B, J-15, J-35, naval technology, Chinese military
#chinaarmy
#chinesenavy
#pla

[EurasiaNaval]

For more videos on PLAN analysis, see here:

[mirror]

I think one other factor that is often overlooked when comparing the number of ships is that the US fleet is spread out over essentially the whole world, while the chinese fleet is concentrated in waters near China.

[shanghainewbison]

The biggest advantage of China naval force is the ship-building capabilities in China. In wartime, China can probably build 50 055 class destroyers in a year, while other countries simply do not have that capability.

[freeabramsanton]

When I read the news title earlier that "China will initially complete the modernization of its national defense in 2035", I was surprised and expected to see a larger navy and hope for world peace.
[As a young military fan, I remember that when the first 052D was put into service, I was excited for several days. I didn't expect that so many have been built now]

[biochemwang]

Nice video as always. BTW, I think PLAN also badly needs larger and faster supply ships to sail with those carrier groups. It might be a good idea to develop such ships based on the same frame of type 075 with a flying deck.

[jensensean]

As an update of the number of the Type-056A corvettes, about half the 50 China has built have been transferred to the Chinese coast guards after removing the missile launchers. The crews of these war shipsw may be transferred to Type 054As and Type 052DLs under construction.

[Joshua-dtvi]

Hi I've been following you for a while now on your channel and I wanted to ask if you could do a video on US naval procurement from 2030 and beyond similar to the one you did on China a while back either here or on your other channel Naval enthusiast, it'll also be nice if you could touch on the US navy's current 30 year ship building plan. Thank you.

[kentriat]

A very good presentation on the advances of the Chinese navy. The one point not really considered when comparing against the US Navy is the US navy is coupled to five oceans and is not able to bring its full force to bear against China for fear of attacks on its vast world wide defence bases if it did so.

Another point in favour of China is it’s massive open ocean fishing trawler fleet, which can supply thousands of sailers with vast experience capable of quick commissioning into officer positions if required. Something the USA no longer has as it struggles to recruit for its navel forces.

[garymoh]

To compensate the weakness & small number of the Chinese SSN, PLAN has a large number of Type 039A AIP SSK & latest variants, these AIP boats could very stealthy & therefore very deadly to any enemy fleet.

[Lena-vwye]

Thank you Eurasia Naval Insight, I found this to be very educational and enlightening to see instead of the propaganda you normally see from other channels or indian comments that immediately discount all of China's ability as just ships that would fall apart. You can see that China never expected to be a superpower next year, but with it's compound growth mentality, it will build to ultimately defend it's zone indefinitely. May China be successful in their future endeavors.

[DIREWOLFx]

Not having nuclearpowered submarines is not by itself a weakness. Not having them if you require longrange submarine patrols, YES, then it's a weakness.
But China isn't trying to rule the Atlantic or the S.E. Pacific, or for that matter, ALL the oceans. It is questionable how much they really need them.

Especially nowadays when various AIP solutions have shown to be extremely effective. The Gotland never failing against a USN carrier task force, to "sink" the carrier during exercises, nor ever being "sunk" itself, that was a very blatant showing of just how dangerous conventional subs can be.
.

The quality issue is also going to be less of a problem soon-ish, because of how USA/Nato/EU has pushed China and Russia into a de facto alliance, i started hearing rumors about negoitations between them about submarine and ASW technology ever since summer. And while Russia isn't a naval focused nation, it still has some pretty darn good stuff.

[exduzz]

China's weakness is it grew too fast ecomically, faster than its tech could keep up with. So it had to do many stop gap measures in the meantime, like procuring diesel subs or ski ramp carriers. Also China prioritised defending its shores first, so it doesn't need nuclear subs except as second strike capability in nuclear war, and 8 is enough for that, or at least for now.

Within the next 10-30 years however, China will transition into a full blown blue water navy, and will be able to match or exceed USA militarily and technologically. I have no doubt about that. That is China's own stated timeline. To have a world class military by 2050. Aka be able to go toe to toe with USA in anything and everything.

China's biggest weakness however is its lack of overseas bases. It doesn't matter if you have nuclear subs, you still need to replenish food and water supplies from friendly countries or your overseas bases. And based on what I've seen, China has been working on that. I predict some overseas bases in South America, and maybe another one in west coast of Africa, and some in pacific island as has been reported in the news like Solomon Islands. China needs to sign some agreements and be able to use those ports to counter USA and west, otherwise China will forever be vulnerable to blockades and other shenanigans. China cannot attack and make an enemy of every country USAs has bases in, so China will need to use diplomacy and its economic might to make those countries guarantee China the same access and also make those countries be neutral in any USA vs China war.

Of course, the most important is to ramp up China's nuclear stockpile to deter such war from every happening, and if it does happen, at least China will have the firepower to take on the world and destroy it if need be. And China has been doing that, they will have 1000 nukes by end of the decade probably. The only reason no one ever talks about attacking Russia or even blockading Russian exports etc is becsuse Russia has that many nukes. China needs to do the same ASAP and put an end to talks of "defending Taiwan" or "blocking malacca straight " once and for all.

[JoshuaC]

It might be a paper tiger today, but in 5-10 years time they might match the USN if the US doesn't start to sort out their problems

[Wunderpus-photogenicus]

In this 21st century when guided missiles of all ranges are the key to winning a battle or war, the role of an aircraft carrier is much diminished.

[bradgolding]

Another great video!
Having watched several videos on the PLA and the PLAN, I believe the personnel are much more motivated to defend their Motherland than the USN personnel are in their aggressor role. Remember what happened with the crew of the USS Donald Cook in the Black Sea when she was buzzed by a Russian Su-24 that fried much of her electronics?
One other point to consider, does China have a close enough relationship with Russia that she can rely on the Russian Navy SSN's to supplement her surface fleet whilst she catches up? Just wondering.

[ycplum]

The strategic missions of the USN and PLAN are different. You briefly touched upon it, but the different missions dictates the different compositions of the two navies.

And the biggest advantage of a nuclear powered ballistic missile sub is not the speed, but the fact that it does not need to surface during its entire patrol.

[robertliang]

Fair assessment. Today's technology is changing too fast especially on the missiles know-how.

[syq]

One thing for sure, these ships are more capable than the ones it replaces and chinese fleet are the largest in the world. They have improved on qualities and quantities. She has not stop on growing.

[FirstTakahashi]

If anything, PLAN is undersized. It's size should be the combine of all the threat it faces.

[DucaTech]

Does the PLAN have railguns on their warships? I saw an article about the use of rail guns as an experiment on one of their ships a few years back.