‘The scale is extraordinary’: China’s navy is growing at incredible speeds and it’s putting the US, Australia on edge
Startling new data has shown a huge expansion of China’s defence output has completely dwarfed the US, as tensions rise over a potential spill-over.
China’s shipbuilding industry is rapidly outpacing the rest of the world, dwarfing some of its biggest manufacturing rivals as the CCP moves to expand both its military and trade capabilities.
According to new industry data, Chinese shipyards accounted for more than 60 per cent of global orders this year, with production speeds far exceeding every other nation on the planet.
The US is wary of such developments and analysts are warning the dramatic scale of the nation’s shipbuilding industry is a wake-up call for nations ideologically opposed to Beijing’s recent posturing in the Pacific.
“The scale is extraordinary… in many ways eye-watering,” a maritime expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies Nick Childs said via the BBC.
“The Chinese shipbuilding capacity is something like 200 times overall that of the United States.”
The People’s Liberation Army navy (PLAN) now operates 234 warships, compared with 219 in the US fleet. Between 2019 and 2023, China’s four largest shipyards produced 39 warships with a combined displacement of 550,000 tonnes — more than the total tonnage of the UK’s Royal navy.
Although the US navy maintains a greater overall displacement and a far larger fleet of aircraft carriers, Beijing is quickly closing the gap. “Hull count is not the only measure of a navy’s effectiveness of course, but the ability to produce and churn out warships has been extremely impressive and could make a strategic difference,” Alexander Palmer of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says.
China’s military build-up has coincided with the nation’s massive investment in commercial shipping. Several Chinese shipyards serve both purposes, a “military-civilian fusion” strategy promoted by President Xi Jinping.
Analysts warn this dual-use approach could provide Beijing with an advantage in a prolonged conflict. The sheer scale of the operation and its ability to pivot between civilian and military purposes poses a threat, especially as China continues to ramp up rhetoric over its claims to Taiwan.
But China insists its naval build-up is purely defensive.
“We have no interest in interfering in the business of other countries, especially militarily,” director of the Center for Maritime Strategy, Studies at Peking University Hu Bo says.
But in recent months, Chinese warships have staged live-fire drills off Australia and aircraft carriers have conducted manoeuvres near Japan, which has served as a reminder of Beijing’s growing reach.
Analysts say the key question is not whether China can build ships, but how far its fleet can sail an be effective.
“They still have a significant way to go,” Childs continued. “But they are certainly pushing the boundaries.”
Satellite imagery shows Beijing expanding naval facilities in Hainan, including new piers at Yulin base believed to host Jin-class submarines capable of carrying nuclear missiles. The CCP is eager to show off its new armaments, with upcoming military parades expected to showcase a new rollout of advanced anti-ship missiles, hypersonic weapons and unmanned underwater drones.
Meanwhile, US officials have acknowledged the challenge.
“The US navy, while it still has significant advantages, is seeing the gap in its capabilities with China narrow and is struggling to find a way of answering that,” Mr Childs said.
President Donald Trump has meanwhile signed an executive order to revitalise US shipbuilding, though experts warn this will be a “very tall order.”
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Originally published as ‘The scale is extraordinary’: China’s navy is growing at incredible speeds and it’s putting the US, Australia on edge
