Chinese Naval Review |
The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is serving as the
primary vehicle to extend China’s influence further away from its borders. New
and improved capabilities have transformed the navy into a force that can take
on increasingly complex and distant military roles.
“The PLAN is at the tip of the Chinese spear,” said Dr.
David M. Finkelstein (Vice President and Director, China studies, Center for
Naval Analyses). Finkelstein was moderating the panel on the Chinese navy at West
2013.
Capt. Jim Fanell, USN Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence,
U.S. Pacific Fleet) said that the PLAN has become a very capable fighting
force. PLAN maneuvers increasingly are about countering the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
“Make no mistake: the PLAN is focused on war at sea and sinking an opposing fleet,”
Capt. Fanell said.
Dr. Toshi Yoshihara, professor and John A. van Beuren
chair of Asia-Pacific Studies, Strategy and Policy, Naval War College, said
that the key operational challenge is China’s family of land- and sea-based
antiship missiles. China has been theorizing about the combined use of
different missiles in antiship warfare for more than a decade.
The PLAN has an anti-carrier fleet, and it is considering
broadening its strategy, Yoshihara added. He noted that China’s constant harassment
of Japanese ships is introducing operational fatigue in Japan Maritime
Self-Defense Force and its coast guard.
After returning from the exposition I noticed that the
Japanese had detained a Chinese fishing vessel near Okinawa. That little
incident is a good example of that “passive” harassment and seems to back up
those statements.
Live Long and Prosper...
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