China-US tensions keep PLA sailors at sea for an extra four months in 2020
- Servicemen and women from South Sea Fleet, which monitors the South China Sea, had tours extended by up to 110 days, navy says
- Increased activity by US forces in region, launch of new warships and helping fight Covid-19 all contributed to increased workload, insiders say
Under normal circumstances, the sailors would have ended their tours in September, but as their colleagues prepared to leave, many found themselves engaging in so-called special tasks for a further 110 days, it said.
“After 110 days of hard work on the high seas … they have finally hung up their boots and returned home,” the navy said, without saying exactly when the sailors completed their tours or where they had been serving.
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Beijing-based military expert Li Jie said the PLA’s actions were a response to the pressure China was feeling because of the increased activity of American forces in the region.
“The US Navy’s intensive, provocative moves in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea pushed the PLA Navy to increase its preparedness for a possible conflict,” he said, adding that extending the service terms of soldiers and sailors would make them more “combat-ready”.
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A source close to the Chinese navy said in an interview that some senior officers from the South Sea Fleet had spent almost 300 days at sea this year.
“It was because the US warships increased their so-called freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea,” the person said on condition of anonymity.
The Covid-19 pandemic had also strained military resources as the PLA had played a major role in the government’s efforts to contain and fight the disease across China, as too had the launch of several new warships, the source said.
“Nine new Type 052D destroyers joined the East and South Sea fleets in the Eastern and Southern theatre commands this year, which meant a lot more drills for the sailors.”
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Lu Li-Shih, a former instructor at Taiwan’s Naval Academy in Kaohsiung, said the extended service terms suggested the PLA was trying to get more of its sailors up to speed, to match the multiple launches of new warships.
“New warships have to be tested by experienced sailors before they can achieve operational capability,” he said. “That’s why a lot of veterans had to stay behind.”
“You have to come up with new systems to match the standards of modern warfare,” he said. “And the rapid introduction of new, advanced warships means you need more capable and experienced sailors to help formulate training systems for new recruits.”
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Meanwhile, a report published last week by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, said the global health crisis had affected both PLA and US Navy deployments in the Asia-Pacific region this year.
However, although there was a sharp decrease in activity in the spring and early summer, a sharp increase in the second half of the year meant that the actual number of PLA exercises in 2020 rose by almost 50 per cent – from 44 to 65 – from 2019.
The report said there was also a slump in friendly engagements and onshore activities between the two navies in 2020.
Port visits by Chinese vessels fell to zero in the year, from six in 2019, while the corresponding figures for American vessels dropped to six from 41.
