The US Secretary of the Navy has sounded the alarm that China’s naval fleet now outnumbers America’s and is expanding quicker than the US is able to match.
Wednesday at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro stated, “It is no secret that the People’s Republic of China seeks to undermine our dominance on the oceans around the world.”
According to Del Toro, China’s navy has recently added over a hundred combatants to its fleet, which he describes as “a critical component of its increasingly aggressive military posture globally.”
Currently, the People’s Liberation Army Navy of China has approximately 340 ships, compared to approximately 280 for the United States Navy.
The Pentagon’s stated goal is to have 350 manned ships by 2045, whereas China intends to have 440 ships by 2030.
Due to the incursion of a Chinese balloon into our airspace, the alarm bells of the majority of Americans have now sounded, according to Del Toro.
He added, however, that many Americans were unaware that China “consistently endeavors to violate the maritime sovereignty and economic well-being of other nations, including our allies and trading partners in the South China Sea and elsewhere.”
In recent years, China’s aggression in the South China Sea, a massive expanse of ocean that China claims as its own but is not recognized under international law, has increased.
China’s disregard for the rules-based international order is especially concerning in the maritime domain, from the Taiwan Strait to the high seas, Del Toro stated.
He added, “The values of the Chinese Communist Party are incompatible with individual liberty, democracy, and respect for human rights.”
According to CNN, Del Toro told reporters that China’s shipbuilding capacity far exceeds that of the United States, stating that China has 13 shipyards, one of which has a shipbuilding capacity greater than all US shipyards combined.
The United States maintains a significant advantage in aircraft carriers, with 11 to China’s three. According to reports, China has also struggled to train enough shipborne fighter aircraft pilots to adequately man its carriers.
According to specialists, in a full-scale naval conflict, the larger fleet almost always has the decisive advantage.
Sam Tangredi, the Leidos Chair in Future Warfare Studies at the US Naval War College and a former US Navy captain, issued a similar warning in the January issue of Proceedings, the journal of the US Naval Institute, last month.
According to his analysis of 25 historical naval conflicts, the party with the larger fleet prevailed in all but three instances.
“In a war between equally competent technological near peers, the larger fleet always prevails, barring a sequence of astounding strokes of luck,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, China’s provocations in the South China Sea continue to escalate.
On February 6, a Chinese coast guard vessel directed a military-grade laser at a Philippine coast guard vessel, temporarily impairing the bridge crew.
The Philippine ship was aiding a mission to deliver food and provisions to troops stationed on an atoll in the contested South China Sea.
The incident occurred 105 nautical miles off the Philippine province of Palawan at Second Thomas Shoal. A small Philippine military contingent resides aboard a rusting ship on the shoal.
According to Reuters, Philippines military spokesperson Medel Aguilar told reporters, “I believe it is time for the Chinese government to restrain its forces so as not to commit any provocative act that will imperil the lives of people.”
The Philippine defense chief was quoted by Aguilar as describing the Chinese action as ‘offensive’ and dangerous.
Admiral Michael Gilday, the chief of naval operations for the United States, was in Manila on Wednesday, where he stated that the United States is ‘committed’ to conducting joint maritime patrols with the Philippines to deter Chinese aggression in the disputed waterway.
AFP reported that Gilday said the countries were “in the early phases of planning” for combined maritime activities, but that the United States was “committed and focused.”
China asserts sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars’ worth of annual trade passes, and has disregarded a judgment by an international court that its claims lack legal standing.
Gilday met with Philippine Navy Chief Vice Admiral Toribio Adaci and Chief of Staff General Andres Centino in Manila.
Gilday told reporters that they agreed “in principle that we must move forward with focus and speed in order to enhance our interoperability in the South China Sea and throughout the region.”
In the event of a conflict with China, which a four-star US Air Force general has warned could occur as early as 2025, cooperation from the Philippines would be crucial due to its proximity to Taiwan and its surrounding waters.
»US struggle to keep pace with china’s growing naval fleet«