| People's Liberation Army Navy | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Emblem of the People's Liberation Army Navy | |||||||
| Founded | 23 April 1949; 75 years ago (1949-04-23) | ||||||
| Country | China | ||||||
| Allegiance |  Chinese Communist Party[1] | ||||||
| Type | Navy | ||||||
| Role | Naval warfare | ||||||
| Size | |||||||
| Part of |  People's Liberation Army | ||||||
| March | 人民海军向前进 ("The People's Navy Marches Forward") | ||||||
| Fleet | |||||||
| Engagements | |||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Commander | AdmiralHu Zhongming | ||||||
| Political Commissar | AdmiralYuan Huazhi | ||||||
| Chief of Staff | AdmiralLiu Zizhu | ||||||
| Insignia | |||||||
| Flag and ensign |  | ||||||
| Jack |  | ||||||
| Badge |  | ||||||
| Sleeve badge |  | ||||||
| Aircraft flown | |||||||
| Electronic warfare | Y-8 | ||||||
| Fighter | J-11,J-15 | ||||||
| Helicopter | Z-8,Z-9,Mi-8,Z-10,Ka-28,AS365 | ||||||
| Interceptor | J-7,J-8 | ||||||
| Patrol | Y-8,Y-9 | ||||||
| Reconnaissance | Y-9 | ||||||
| Trainer | JL-8,JL-9 | ||||||
| Transport | Y-7,Y-9 | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 中国人民解放军海军 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 中國人民解放軍海軍 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | China People Liberation Army Sea Army | ||||||
| |||||||
| People's Navy | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 人民海军 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 人民海軍 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | People Navy | ||||||
| |||||||
| Chinese Navy | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 中国海军 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 中國海軍 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | China Navy | ||||||
| |||||||
| People's Liberation Army |
|---|
 |
| Executive departments |
| Staff |
| Services |
| Arms |
| Domestic troops |
| Special operations forces |
| Military districts |
| History of the Chinese military |
| Military ranks of China |
ThePeople's Liberation Army Navy,[a] also known as thePeople's Navy,PLA Navy or simplyChinese Navy, is thenaval warfarebranch of thePeople's Liberation Army, the national military of the People's Republic of China. It is composed of five sub-branches: theSurface Force, theSubmarine Force, theCoastal Defense Force, theMarine Corps and theNaval Air Force, with a total strength of 384,000 personnel, including 100,000marines and 50,000naval aviation personnel. The PLAN's combat units are deployed among threetheater commandfleets, namely theNorth Sea,East Sea andSouth Sea Fleet, which serve theNorthern,Eastern andSouthern Theater Command, respectively.
The PLAN was formally established on 23 April 1949[5] and traces its lineage to maritime fighting units during theChinese Civil War, including many elements of theRepublic of China Navy which had defected. Until the late 1980s, the PLAN was largely ariverine andlittoral force (brown-water navy) mostly in charge ofcoastal defense andpatrol againstpotential Nationalist amphibious invasions andterritorial waters disputes in theEast andSouth China Sea (roles that are now largely relegated to the paramilitaryChina Coast Guard), and had been traditionally a maritime support subordinate to thePLA Ground Force. Following thecollapse of the Soviet Union, the Chinese leadership were freed from overland border concerns with the northern neighbor and shifted towards more forward-orientedforeign andnational security policies in the 1990s, and the PLAN leaders were able to advocate for renewed attention toward limitedcommand of the seas as agreen-water navy operating in themarginal seas within the range of coastalair parity.
Into the 21st century, Chinese military officials have outlined plans to operate withblue water capability between thefirst andsecond island chains,[6] with Chinese strategists talking about themodernization of the PLAN into "a regional blue-water defensive and offensive navy."[7] Transitioning into ablue-water navy, regularnaval exercises and patrols have increased in theTaiwan Strait, theSenkaku Islands/Diaoyutai in the East China Sea, and within thenine-dash line in the South China Sea, and all of which China claims as its territory[8][9][10] despite the Republic of China (ROC, i.e. Taiwan), Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines each alsoclaiming a significant part of the South China Sea.[11][12] Some exercises and patrols of the PLAN in recent years went as close to and within theexclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Japan, Taiwan, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, although undisputed territorial waters have been not been crossed except in cases ofinnocent passage.[13][14][15][16][17]
As of 2024[update], the PLAN is thesecond-largest navy in the world by totaldisplacement tonnage[18] — at 2 million tons in 2024, behind only theUnited States Navy (USN)[19] — and the largest navy globally by number of active sea-going ships (excluding coastalmissile boats,gunboats andminesweepers)[20][21] with over 370surface ships andsubmarines in service,[22] compared to approximately 292 ships and submarines in the USN.[23] However, the Chinese fleets are much newer and smaller in tonnage, as about 70% of their warships were launched after 2010 and consist mostly of newly designeddestroyers,frigates andcorvettes with only a fewamphibious warfare ships and thetwo commissioned aircraft carriers, while only about 25% of the American ships were launched after 2010 and majority of their tonnage are from its eleven 100,000-tonsupercarriers, 21 largeamphibious assault ships and experimentalcapital ships such as theZumwalt-class destroyers.[24] The dominance of Chineseshipbuilding capacity (over 230 times greater tonnage than the United States, according to theAlliance for American Manufacturing[25]) have led theOffice of Naval Intelligence to project that China will have 475 battle force ships by 2035 while the USN will have 305 to 317,[26] which would put the United States in a numerical and operational disadvantage especially in the West Pacific according to achairnaval strategy professor at theNaval War College.[27]
The PLAN traces its lineage to units of theRepublic of China Navy (ROCN) who defected to thePeople's Liberation Army towards the end of theChinese Civil War. A number of Japanese andManchukuo Imperial Navy gunboats used to patrol the river border with the Soviet Union were also handed over to the PLA following thesurrender of Japan. In 1949,Mao Zedong asserted that "to oppose imperialist aggression, we must build a powerful navy". During theLanding Operation on Hainan Island, the communists used woodenjunks fitted withmountain guns as both transport and warships against the ROCN. The navy was established on 23 April 1949 by consolidating regional naval forces underJoint staff Department command inJiangyan (now inTaizhou, Jiangsu).[5]
The Naval Academy was set up atDalian on 22 November 1949, mostly with Soviet instructors. It then consisted of a motley collection of ships and boats acquired from theKuomintang forces. TheNaval Air Force was added two years later. By 1954, an estimated 2,500 Soviet naval advisers were in China—possibly one adviser to every thirty Chinese naval personnel—and theSoviet Union began providing modern ships.
With Soviet assistance, the navy reorganized in 1954 and 1955 into theNorth Sea Fleet,East Sea Fleet, andSouth Sea Fleet, and a corps ofadmirals and other naval officers was established from the ranks of the ground forces. Inshipbuilding the Soviets first assisted the Chinese, then the Chinese copied Soviet designs without assistance, and finally the Chinese produced vessels of their own design. Eventually Soviet assistance progressed to the point that a joint Sino-Soviet Pacific Ocean fleet was under discussion.
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Through the upheavals of the late 1950s and 1960s the Navy remained relatively undisturbed. Under the leadership of Minister of National DefenseLin Biao, large investments were made in naval construction during the frugal years immediately after theGreat Leap Forward. During theCultural Revolution, a number of top naval commissars and commanders were purged.
Naval forces were used to suppress a revolt inWuhan in July 1967, but the service largely avoided the turmoil affecting the country. Although it paid lip service to Mao and assigned political commissars aboard ships, the Navy continued to train, build, and maintain the fleets as well the coastal defense and aviation arms, as well as in the performance of its mission.
In the 1970s, when approximately 20 percent of the defense budget was allocated to naval forces, the Navy grew dramatically. The conventional submarine force increased from 35 to 100 boats, the number ofmissile-carrying ships grew from 20 to 200, and the production of largersurface ships, including support ships for oceangoing operations, increased. The Navy also began development ofnuclear attack submarines (SSN) and nuclear-poweredballistic missile submarines (SSBN).[citation needed]
In the 1980s, under the leadership of Chief Naval CommanderLiu Huaqing, the navy developed into a regional naval power, though naval construction continued at a level somewhat below the 1970s rate. Liu Huaqing was an Army officer who spent most of his career in administrative positions involving science and technology. It was not until 1988 that the People's Liberation Army Navy was led by anaval officer. Liu was also very close toDeng Xiaoping as his modernization efforts were very much in keeping with Deng's national policies.[28]
While under his leadership Naval construction yards produced fewer ships than the 1970s, greater emphasis was placed on technology and qualitative improvement. Modernization efforts also encompassed higher educational and technical standards for personnel; reformulation of the traditional coastal defense doctrine and force structure in favor of moregreen-water operations; and training in navalcombined-arms operations involving submarine, surface,naval aviation, andcoastal defense forces.[28]
Examples of the expansion of China's capabilities were the 1980 recovery of anintercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in theWestern Pacific by a twenty-ship fleet, extended naval operations in theSouth China Sea in 1984 and 1985, and the visit of two naval ships to three South Asian nations in 1985. In 1982 the navy conducted a successful test of an underwater-launchedballistic missile. The navy also had some success in developing a variety ofsurface-to-surface andair-to-surface missiles, improving basic capabilities.[28]
In 1986, the Navy'sorder of battle included twoXia-classSSBNs armed with twelveCSS-N-3 missiles and threeHan-class SSNs armed with sixSY-2cruise missiles. In the late 1980s, major deficiencies reportedly remained inanti-submarine warfare,mine warfare, naval electronics (includingelectronic countermeasures equipment), andnaval aviation capabilities.[citation needed]
The PLA Navy was ranked in 1987 as the third largest navy in the world, although naval personnel had comprised only 12 percent of PLA strength. In 1987 the Navy consisted (as it does now) of the naval headquarters in Beijing; three fleet commands – theNorth Sea Fleet, based atQingdao, Shandong; theEast Sea Fleet, based atNingbo; and theSouth Sea Fleet, based atZhanjiang, Guangdong – and about 1,000 ships of which only approximately 350 are ocean going. The rest are small patrol or support craft.[citation needed]
The 350,000-person Navy included Naval Air Force units of 34,000 men, the Coastal Defense Forces of 38,000, and the Marine Corps of 56,500. Navy Headquarters, which controlled the three fleet commands, was subordinate to the PLA General Staff Department. In 1987, China's 1,500 kmcoastline was protected by approximately 70[citation needed] diesel-poweredRomeo- andWhiskey-class submarines, which could remain at sea only a limited time.
Inside this protective ring and within range of shore-based aircraft weredestroyers andfrigates mountingStyx anti-ship missiles,depth-charge projectors, and guns up to 130 mm. Any invader penetrating the destroyer and frigate protection would have been swarmed by almost 900fast-attack craft. Stormy weather limited the range of these small boats, however, and curtailedair support. Behind the inner ring were Coastal Defense Force personnel operating naval shorebatteries of Styx missiles and guns, backed by ground force units deployed in depth.[citation needed]
As the 21st century approached, the PLAN began to transition to anoff-shore defensive strategy that entailed moreout-of-area operations away from its traditional territorial waters.[29]: 23–30 From 1990 to 2002,Jiang Zemin's military reforms placed particular emphasis on the Navy.[30]: 261
Between 1989 and 1993, the training shipZhenghe paid ports visits to Hawaii, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. PLAN vessels visited Vladivostok in 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996. PLAN task groups also paid visits to Indonesia in 1995; North Korea in 1997; New Zealand, Australia, and the Philippines in 1998; Malaysia, Tanzania, South Africa, the United States, and Canada in 2000; and India, Pakistan, France, Italy, Germany, Britain, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand in 2001.[29]: 114
In March 1997, theLuhu-class guided missile destroyerHarbin, theLuda-class guided missile destroyerZhuhai, and thereplenishment oilerNancang began the PLA Navy's first circumnavigation of the Pacific Ocean, a 98-day voyage with port visits to Mexico, Peru, Chile, and the United States, includingPearl Harbor andSan Diego. The flotilla was under the command ofVice Admiral Wang Yongguo, the commander-in-chief of the South Sea Fleet.[29]: 114 [31][32][33]
TheLuhu-class guided missile destroyerQingdao and thereplenishment oilerTaicang completed the PLA Navy's first circumnavigation of the world(pictured), a 123-day voyage covering 32,000 nautical miles (59,000 km; 37,000 mi) between 15 May – 23 September 2002. Port visits included Changi, Singapore;Alexandria, Egypt;Aksis, Turkey;Sevastopol, Ukraine;Piraeus, Greece;Lisbon, Portugal;Fortaleza, Brazil;Guayaquil , Ecuador;Callao, Peru; andPapeete inFrench Polynesia. The PLA naval vessels participated in naval exercises with theFrench frigatesNivôse andPrairial, as well as exercises with thePeruvian Navy. The flotilla was under the command of Vice Admiral Ding Yiping, the commander-in-chief of the North Sea Fleet, andCaptain Li Yujie was the commanding officer of theQingdao.[29]: 114–115 [34][35][36]
Overall, between 1985 and 2006, PLAN naval vessels visited 18 Asian-Pacific nations, 4 South American nations, 8 European nations, 3 African nations, and 3 North American nations.[29]: 115 In 2003, the PLAN conducted its first joint naval exercises during separate visits to Pakistan and India. Bi-lateral naval exercises were also carried out with exercises with the French, British, Australian, Canadian, Philippine, and United States navies.[29]: 116
On 26 December 2008, the PLAN dispatched a task group consisting of theguided missile destroyerHaikou (flagship), theguided missile destroyerWuhan, and the supply shipWeishanhu to theGulf of Aden to participate inanti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia. A team of 16Chinese Special Forces members from its Marine Corps armed with attack helicopters were on board.[37][38][39] Since then, China has maintained a three-shipflotilla of two warships and one supply ship in theGulf of Aden by assigning ships to theGulf of Aden on a three monthly basis. Other recent PLAN incidents include the 2001Hainan Island incident, amajor submarine accident in 2003, and naval incidents involving the U.S.MSC-operated ocean surveillance shipsVictorious andImpeccable during 2009. At the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the PLAN, 52 to 56 vessels were shown in manoeuvres off Qingdao in April 2009 including previously unseen nuclear submarines.[40][41]
The demonstration was seen as a sign of the growing status of China, while theCMC chairman,Hu Jintao, indicated that China is neither seeking regional hegemony nor entering an arms race.[40]Predictions by Western analysts that the PLAN would outnumber the USN submarine force as early as 2011 have failed to come true because the PRC curtailed both imports and domestic production of submarines.[42]
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Beginning in 2009, China ordered 4Zubr-class LCAC from Ukraine and bought 4 more from the Hellenic Navy (Greece). These hovercraft/LCACs are built to send troops and armored vehicles (tanks, etc.) onto beaches in a fast manner, acting as a landing craft, and were viewed to be a direct threat to Taiwan's pro-independence movement as well as the conflict overSenkaku Islands. China is continually shifting the power balance in Asia by building up the Navy's Submarines, Amphibious warfare, and surface warfare capabilities.[citation needed]
Between 5–12 July 2013, a seven-ship task force from theNorth Sea Fleet joined warships from theRussian Pacific Fleet to participate inJoint Sea 2013, bilateral naval maneuvers held in thePeter the Great Bay of theSea of Japan. To date, Joint Sea 2013 was the largest naval drill yet undertaken by the People's Liberation Army Navy with a foreign navy.[44]
On 2 April 2015, during theviolent aftermath of acoup d'état in Yemen and amid aninternational bombing campaign, the PLAN helped ten countries get their citizens out of Yemen safely, evacuating them aboard a missile frigate from thebesieged port city ofAden. The operation was described byReuters as "the first time that China's military has helped other countries evacuate their people during an international crisis".[45]
China's participation in international maritime exercises is also increasing. InRIMPAC 2014, China was invited to send ships from their People's Liberation Army Navy; marking not only the first time China participated in a RIMPAC exercise but also the first time China participated in a large-scale United States-led naval drill.[46] On 9 June 2014, China confirmed it would be sending four ships to the exercise, a destroyer, frigate, supply ship, & hospital ship.[47][48] In April 2016, the People's Republic of China was also invited to RIMPAC 2016 despite the tension in South China Sea.[49]
PRC military expertYin Zhuo said that due to present weaknesses in the PLAN's ability to replenish their ships at sea, their future aircraft carriers will be forced to operate in pairs.[50]In a TV interview,Zhang Zhaozhong suggest otherwise, saying China is "unlikely to put all her eggs in one basket" and that the navy will likely rotate between carriers rather than deploy them all at once.
In 2017, PLAN hospital shipPeace Ark traveled to Djibouti (treating 7,841 Djiboutians), Sierra Leone, Gabon, Republic of Congo (treating 7,508 Congolese), Angola, Mozambique (treating 9,881 Mozambiquans), and Tanzania (treating 6,421 Tanzanians).[51]: 284
The PLAN continued its expansion into the 2020s, increasing its operational capacity, commissioning new ships, and constructing naval facilities.[52] Observers note that the PLAN's ongoing modernization is intended to build up the Chinese surface fleet and fix existing issues that limit the capability of the PLAN. Observers have noted that the PLAN's expansion will allow it to project Chinese power in the South China Sea and allow for the navy to counter the USN's operations in Asia.[53] Chinese naval capability increased substantially in the 2010s and 2020s. In two decades, the PLA Navy fielded 4,300vertical launching system (VLS) cells on its surface combatants.[54] According to the US-based think tankRAND Corporation, PLAN enjoyed major advantages in terms of naval technologies, missiles, and tonnage against regional rivals such as Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and India.[citation needed]
The PLAN central HQ is directly subordinate to theCMC. The PLAN HQ functional offices have the administrative command, control, coordination, and force construction duties over all naval forces. The PLAN is divided into five major "arms" or service branches (兵种): the Surface Force, the Submarine Force, the Coastal Defense Force, the Marine Corps, and the Naval Air Force.[55]
After the 2016 reforms, the main offices of the PLAN HQ are:[56]
Operationally, the PLAN's naval forces are subordinate to the CMCJoint Operations Command Center through the Theater Command's own Joint Operations Command Center (T-JOCC). The three fleets (one per Theater) has in turn a Each fleet has their own headquarters, headed like all PLA units by a dual team of a commander and a political commissar, and each has set up a “maritime operations sub-center” (MOSC) (海上作战分中心) to coordinate operations.[56][62][63] The fleets are in turn organized into formations (编队) consisting on various numbers of vessels, each under the operational control of a "formation command post" (编队指挥所). Fleet units are ordinarily organized intozhidui (支队, usually translated as "flotilla") ofdivisional or brigade grade, anddadui (大队, usually translated as "squadron") ofregimental or battalion grade. Temporary smaller detachments (中队), and larger task forces (战斗群) or "clusters" (集群) can be organized according to circumstances.The Coastal Defense Force, Marine Corps, and Naval Air Force are organized in brigades.[62]
While the CMCJoint Operations Command Center has superior command, the Theater Command's T-JOCC has immediate operational control of all services in its jurisdiction.[b] A peculiar case is the East Sea Joint Command Center established in 2013, which has operational control over all forces above, on, and under that sea, including PLAN, PLAAF,China Coast Guard, andMaritime Militia.[62]
The People's Liberation Army Navy is divided into three fleets:
Territorially, each fleet has two or three Bases (基地),[c] each with a number of subordinateMaritime Garrison Areas (水警区), each with a given spatial jurisdiction, usually only over territorial waters. Deep blue sea operations are controlled at Theater and Fleet levels.
The People's Liberation Army Surface Force consists of allsurface warships in service with the PLAN. They are organised into flotillas spread across the three main fleets.[citation needed]
The People's Liberation Army Navy Submarine Force consists of allnuclear anddiesel-electric submarines in service with the PLAN.
The PRC is the last of thepermanent members of the United Nations Security Council which has not conducted an operationalballistic missile submarine patrol, because of institutional problems.[64] It operates a fleet of 68 submarines.
The PLAN Coastal Defence Force is a land-based branch of the PLAN in charge ofcoastal defence,[citation needed] with a strength of around 25,000 personnel. Also known as the coastal defense troops, they serve to defend China's coastal andlittoral areas from invasion viaamphibious landings orair attacks.
Between the 1950s and 1960s, the Coastal Defense Force was primarily assigned to repel anyKuomintang attempts to infiltrate, invade and harass the Chinese coastline. After theSino-Soviet split and the abandonment ofKMT's plans to recapture the Mainland, the Coastal Defense Force was focused on defending China's coast from a possibleSoviet sea-borne invasion throughout the 1960s to 1980s.
With thefall of the Soviet Union, the threat of an amphibious invasion of China has diminished and therefore the branch is often considered to no longer be a vital component of the PLAN, especially as the surface warships of the PLAN continue to improve in terms of anti-ship and air-defence capabilities and the PLAN'spower projection begins to extend beyond thefirst island chain.
Today the primary weapons of the coastal defense troops are theYJ-62,YJ-18,YJ-12, andC-602 anti-ship missiles, plusSAM andSHORAD batteries.
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The PLAN Marine Corps was originally established in the 1950s and then re-established in 1979 under PLAN organisation.[65] It consists of around 30,000-40,000marines,[66][67] with roughly two brigades in each theater. The Marine Corps are considered elite troops, and arerapid deployment forces trained primarily inamphibious warfare and sometimes inair assaults to establish abeachhead or act as a spearhead during assault operations against enemy targets.
The marines are equipped with the standardType 95 assault rifles as well as othersmall arms and personnel equipment, and until 2022 they had distinct blue/littoral camouflage uniform as standard (now being replaced by more subdued coloring based on thexingkong pattern). The marines are also equipped withamphibiousarmoured fighting vehicles (including amphibiousassault vehicles such as theZTD-05 andIFVs such asZBD-05),helicopters,naval artillery,anti-aircraft weapon systems, and short rangesurface-to-air missiles.
With the PLAN's accelerating efforts to expand its capabilities beyond territorial waters, it would be likely for the Marine Corps to play a greater role in terms of being an offshoreexpeditionary force similar to theUSMC andRoyal Marines.
The People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF) is thenaval aviation branch of the PLAN and has a strength of around 25,000 personnel and 690 aircraft. It operates similar hardware than thePeople's Liberation Army Air Force, includingfighter aircraft,bombers,attack aircraft,tankers,reconnaissance/early warning aircraft,electronic warfare aircraft,maritime patrol aircraft,transport aircraft andhelicopters of various roles.
The PLA Naval Air Force traditionally operated from coastalair bases, and received older aircraft than the PLAAF with less ambitious steps towardsmass modernization. Advancements in new technologies, weaponry and aircraft acquisition were made after 2000. With the introduction of China's firstaircraft carrier,Liaoning, in 2012, the Naval Air Force began conductingcarrier-based operations for the first time[68] with the goal of buildingcarrier battle group-focusedblue water capabilities. In 2023, the PLANAF transferred the majority of its land-based combat planes to the PLAAF, in exchange for more investment on ship-based aircraft (both carrier based like theShenyang J-35, or ship-borne like helicopters).[55]
The PLANAF naval air bases include:
The PLAN is complemented by paramilitary maritime services such as theChina Coast Guard. The Chinese Coast Guard was previously not under an independent command, considered part of thePeople's Armed Police, under the local (provincial) border defense command, prior to its reorganization and consolidation as an unified service. It was formed from the integration of several formerly separate services such asChina Marine Surveillance (CMS),General Administration of Customs, Armed Police,China Fishery Law Enforcement and localmaritime militia.
The CMS performed mostly coastal and ocean search and rescue or patrols, and received quite a few large patrol ships that significantly enhanced their operations; while Customs, militia, Armed Police and Fishery Law Enforcement operated hundreds of smallpatrol craft. For maritime patrol services, these craft are usually quite well armed with machine guns and 37mm anti-aircraft guns. In addition, these services operated their own small aviation fleets to assist their maritime patrol capabilities, with Customs and CMS operating a handful ofHarbin Z-9 helicopters, and amaritime patrol aircraft based on theHarbin Y-12 STOL transport.
Every coastal province has 1 to 3 Coast Guard squadrons:
The ranks in the People's Liberation Army Navy are similar to those of thePeople's Liberation Army Ground Force,Air Force and theRocket Force. The current system of officer ranks and insignia dates from 1988 and is a revision of the ranks and insignia used from 1955 to 1965. The rank of Hai Jun Yi Ji Shang Jiang (First Class Admiral) was never held and was abolished in 1994. With the official introduction of theType 07 uniforms all officer insignia are on either shoulders or sleeves depending on the type of uniform used. The current system ofenlisted ranks and insignia dates from 1998.
The rank insignia ofcommissioned officers.
| Rank group | General / flag officers | Senior officers | Junior officers | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 PLA Navy[69] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | ||||||||||||||
| 海军上将 Hǎijūn shàngjiàng | 海军中将 Hǎijūn zhōngjiàng | 海军少将 Hǎijūn shàojiàng | 海军大校 Hǎijūn dàxiào | 海军上校 Hǎijūn shàngxiào | 海军中校 Hǎijūn zhōngxiào | 海军少校 Hǎijūn shàoxiào | 海军上尉 Hǎijūn shàngwèi | 海军中尉 Hǎijūn zhōngwèi | 海军少尉 Hǎijūn shàowèi | |||||||||||||||
The rank insignia ofnon-commissioned officers andenlisted personnel.
| Rank group | Senior NCOs | Junior NCOs | Enlisted | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLA Navy[69] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 海军一级军士长 Hǎijūn yījí jūnshìzhǎng | 海军二级军士长 Hǎijūn èrjí jūnshìzhǎng | 海军三级军士长 Hǎijūn sānjí jūnshìzhǎng | 海军四级军士长 Hǎijūn sìjí jūnshìzhǎng | 海军上士 Hǎijūn shàngshì | 海军中士 Hǎijūn zhōngshì | 海军下士 Hǎijūn xiàshì | 海军上等兵 Hǎijūn shàngděngbīng | 海军列兵 Hǎijūn lièbīng | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The People's Liberation Army Navy has become more prominent in recent years owing to a change in Chinese strategic priorities. The new strategic threats include possible conflict with the United States and/or a resurgent Japan in areas such as theTaiwan Strait or theSouth China Sea. As part of its overall program of naval modernization, the PLAN has a long-term plan of developing ablue water navy.Robert D. Kaplan has said that it was thecollapse of the Soviet Union that allowed China to transfer resources from its army to its navy and other force projection assets.[70]
China is constructing a major undergroundnuclearsubmarine base nearSanya, Hainan. In December 2007 the firstType 094 submarine was moved to Sanya.[71]The Daily Telegraph on 1 May 2008 reported that tunnels were being built into hillsides which could be capable of hiding up to 20 nuclear submarines from spy satellites. According to the Western news media the base is reportedly to help China project seapower well into the Pacific Ocean area, including challenging United States naval power.[72][73]
During a 2008 interview with the BBC, Major GeneralQian Lihua, a senior Chinese defense official, stated that the PLAN aspired to possess a small number ofaircraft carriers to allow it to expand China's air defense perimeter.[74] According to Qian the important issue was not whether China had an aircraft carrier, but what it did with it.[74] On 13 January 2009, Adm. Robert F. Willard, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, called the PLAN's modernization "aggressive," and that it raised concerns in the region.[75] On 15 July 2009, Senator Jim Webb of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee declared that only the "United States has both the stature and the national power to confront the obvious imbalance of power that China brings" to situations such as the claims to theSpratly andParacel islands.[76]
Ronald O'Rourke of theCongressional Research Service wrote in 2009 that the PLAN "continues to exhibit limitations or weaknesses in several areas, including capabilities for sustained operations by larger formations in distant waters, joint operations with other parts of China’s military, C4ISR systems, anti-air warfare (AAW), antisubmarine warfare (ASW), MCM, and a dependence on foreign suppliers for certain key ship components."[77]
In 1998 China purchased the discarded Ukrainian shipVaryag and began retrofitting it for naval deployment. On 25 September 2012, the People's Liberation Army Navy took delivery of China's first aircraft carrier,Liaoning.[78] The 60,000-ton ship can accommodate 33 fixed wing aircraft. It is widely speculated that these aircraft will be theJ15 fighter (the Chinese version of Russia's SU-33).[79]
In September 2015, satellite images showed that China may have started constructing its first indigenousType 002 aircraft carrier. At the time, the layout suggested to be displacement of 50,000 tons and a hull to have a length of about 240 m and a beam of about 35 m.[80] On 28 April 2017 the carrier was launched asShandong.
Japan has raised concerns about the PLAN's growing capability and the lack of transparency as its naval strength keeps on expanding.[81] China has entered into service the world's first anti-ship ballistic missile calledDF-21D. The potential threat from the DF-21D against U.S.aircraft carriers has reportedly caused major changes in U.S. strategy.[82]
On 28 June 2017 China launched the first of a new type of large destroyer, theType 055 destroyer. The destroyer – theNanchang – is, with its length of 180 m and at over 12,000 tons fully loaded, the second largest destroyer class in the world after the AmericanZumwalt-class destroyer.[83] Eight destroyers to this design, rated by the United States Navy as "cruisers", have been built or are under construction.
The strength of PLAN is often compared to that of theUS Navy[according to whom?][citation needed].The PLAN is thesecond largest navy in the world in terms of tonnage which stands at 2 million tons as of 2022,[19] only behind theUnited States Navy.[84]
A 2019 review found the USN fleet was able to deploy more "battle force missiles" (BFMs), defined as those missiles that contribute to battle missions, than the PLAN: USN fleet could deploy 11,000 BFMs, compared to 5250 BFMs for PLAN and 3326 BFMs for the Russian Navy.[85]
TheSpratly Islands dispute is aterritorial dispute over the ownership of theSpratly Islands, a group of islands located in theSouth China Sea. States staking claims to various islands are Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and People's Republic of China. All except Brunei occupy some of the islands in dispute.[86]
On 14 March 1988, Chinese and Vietnamese naval forcesclashed overJohnson South Reef in the Spratly Islands, which involved three PLAN frigates.[87]
In February 2011, the Chinese frigateDongguan fired three shots at Philippine fishing boats in the vicinity ofJackson Atoll [zh]. The shots were fired after the frigate instructed the fishing boats to leave, and one of those boats experienced trouble removing its anchor.[88][89]
TheSenkaku Islands dispute concerns a territorial dispute over a group ofuninhabited islands known as the Diaoyu Islands in China, theSenkaku Islands in Japan,[90] andTiaoyutai Islands in Taiwan.[91] Aside from a 1945 to 1972period of administration by the United States, the archipelago has been controlled by Japan since 1895.[92] The People's Republic of China disputed the proposed U.S. handover of authority to Japan in 1971[93] and has asserted its claims to the islands since that time.[94] Taiwan also has claimed these islands. The disputed territory is close to key shipping lanes and rich fishing grounds, and it may have major oil reserves in the area.[95]
On some occasions, ships and planes from various mainland Chinese and Taiwanese government and military agencies have entered the disputed area. In addition to the cases where they escorted fishing and activist vessels, there have been other incursions. In an eight-month period in 2012, over forty maritime incursions and 160 aerial incursions occurred.[96] For example, in July 2012, three Chinese patrol vessels entered the disputed waters around the islands.[97]
Military escalation continued in 2013. In February, Japanese Defense MinisterItsunori Onodera claimed that a Chinese frigate hadlocked weapons-targeting radar onto a Japanese destroyer and helicopter on two occasions in January.[98][99] A ChineseJiangwei II class frigate and a Japanese destroyer were three kilometers apart, and the crew of the latter vessel went to battle stations.[100] The Chinese state media responded that their frigates had been engaged in routine training at the time.[101]
On 22 July 2011, following its Vietnam port-call, the Indian amphibious assault vesselAiravat was reportedly contacted 45 nautical miles from the Vietnamese coast in the disputed South China Sea by a party identifying itself as the Chinese Navy and stating that the Indian warship was entering Chinese waters.[102][103] According to a spokesperson for theIndian Navy, since there were no Chinese ships or aircraft were visible, the INSAiravat proceeded on her onward journey as scheduled. The Indian Navy further clarified that "[t]here was no confrontation involving the INSAiravat. India supports freedom of navigation in international waters, including in the South China Sea, and the right of passage in accordance with accepted principles of international law. These principles should be respected by all."[102]
On 11 July 2012, the Chinese frigateDongguan ran aground on Hasa Hasa Shoal (pictured) located 60nmi west ofRizal, which was within the Philippines' 200 nmi-EEZ.[104] By 15 July, the frigate had been refloated and was returning to port with no injuries and only minor damage.[105] During this incident, the 2012ASEAN summit took place inPhnom Penh, Cambodia, amid the rising regional tensions.[105]
On 18 December 2008, Chinese authorities deployed People's Liberation Army Navy vessels to escort Chinese shipping in the Gulf of Aden.[106]
In the lead-up to the2011 Libyan Civil War, theXuzhou (530) was deployed from anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden to help evacuate Chinese nationals from Libya.[107]
During theYemen conflict, in 2015, the Chinese Navy divertedfrigates carrying out anti-piracy operations in Somalia to evacuate at least 600 Chinese and 225 foreign citizens working in Yemen. Among the non-Chinese evacuees were 176 Pakistani citizens, with smaller numbers from other countries, such as Ethiopia, Singapore, the UK, Italy, and Germany. Despite the evacuations, the Chinese embassy in Yemen continued to operate.[108]
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China's navy is the second-largest in the world in terms of tonnage.[30]: 263
As of 2024, the navy has an overall battle force of more than 350 ships and submarines.[30]: 263–264
China operates carrier-based fighter aircraft. The Chinese Navy also operates helicopters for battlefield logistics, reconnaissance, patrol and medical evacuation.[citation needed]
The QBS-06 is anunderwater assault rifle with 5.8×42 DBS-06. It is based on the SovietAPS.[115]
In early February 2018, pictures of what is claimed to be a Chineserailgun were published online. In pictures the gun is shown mounted on the bow of aType 072III-class landing shipHaiyangshan.[citation needed] In March 2018, it was reported that China had claimed to have begun testing its electromagnetic rail gun at sea.[116][117]
The PLAN's ambitions include operating out to the first and second island chains, as far as the South Pacific near Australia, and spanning to theAleutian islands, and operations extending to theStraits of Malacca near the Indian Ocean.[118]
Between 2001 and 2006 there was a rapid building and acquisition program,[118] a trend which continued. There were more than a dozen new classes of ships built in those five years,[118] totaling some 60 brand new ships (including landing ships and auxiliaries).[118] Simultaneously, dozens of other ships have been either phased out of service or refitted with new equipment.[citation needed]
Ronald O'Rourke of theCongressional Research Service reported that the long-term goals of PLAN planning include:
Following the construction of its two smaller aircraft carriers, China began building the Type 003 carrier.[120]
The PLAN may also operate fromGwadar or Seychelles for anti-piracy missions and to protect vital trade routes which may endanger China's energy security in the case of a conflict.[citation needed] In 2016, China established her first overseasnaval base in Djibouti.
I am a member of the People's Liberation Army. I promise that I will follow the leadership of the Communist Party of China...
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Access requires registration.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)Between March and November, 47 Chinese ship incursions were recorded. From April to December, the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) scrambled fighters 160 times in response to Chinese aircraft in the East China Sea, up from 156 in 2011.
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