China’s navy goes back to work on big ambitions but long-term gaps remain

Name: First made-in-China aircraft carrier, the Shandong, enters service
Uploaded: 2020-08-22T00:18:07.000Z
Duration: 1 min 51 s
Description: First made-in-China aircraft carrier, the Shandong, enters service

The coronavirus pandemic disrupted operations but military’s major challenge is to train enough personnel to operate its expanding fleet

China also needs to keep an eye on quality control as it ramps up warship production, observer says

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China aims to have at least four carrier strike groups in service in the next decade: Photo: 81.cn

Minnie Chan

Published: 8:18am, 22 Aug 2020Updated: 11:02pm, 22 Aug 2020

China’s efforts to modernise and expand its naval forces have once again kicked into high gear after disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, pressing on with efforts to have at least four carrier strike groups in the next decade.

One navy source said escalating tensions with the US prompted China to accelerate its shipbuilding plans.

But military watchers and insiders said that even without the coronavirus disruptions, China still had a long way to go to train the personnel it needed to realise its ambitions.

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First made-in-China aircraft carrier, the Shandong, enters service

Signs of the navy’s aggressive push were apparent late last year when an aerial photo of a Shanghai shipyard surfaced on social media.

The photo showed 12 warships under construction at the dockyard at the same time – the country’s third aircraft carrier, nine advanced destroyers, an amphibious landing dock and a missile test tracking ship.

The navy source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of military information, said that since 2015 the Chinese navy had bought up large amounts of China’s excess special steel, which is used to build commercial and military ships. A decline in the global shipping industry led to a drop in the commodity’s price as companies issued fewer contracts to build new ships.

The insider also said the Beijing leadership hoped to offset the economic effect of a downturn in commercial shipbuilding by pushing resources towards building military vessels.