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People's Liberation Army Navy

Not to be confused with Republic of China Navy, the naval forces of the Republic of China.
"Chinese Navy" redirects here. For historical Chinese naval forces, see Naval history of China.

People's Liberation Army Navy
People's Liberation Army Navy Jack and Ensign
Emblem of the People's Liberation Army Navy
Founded23 April 1949 (1949-04-23)
CountryChina
Allegiance Chinese Communist Party[1]
TypeNavy
RoleNaval warfare
Size
  • 350,000 active personnel (2024)[2]
  • 788 ships (2024)[3]
  • 600 aircraft (2024)[4]
Part of People's Liberation Army
March人民海军向前进
("The People's Navy Marches Forward")
Fleet
Engagements
WebsiteOfficial website
Commanders
CommanderAdmiral Hu Zhongming
Political CommissarAdmiral Yuan Huazhi
Chief of StaffAdmiral Liu Zizhu
Insignia
Flag and ensign
Jack
BadgeThe emblem of PLAN
Sleeve badgeSleeve badge of PLAN
Aircraft flown
Electronic
warfare		Y-8
FighterJ-11, J-15
HelicopterZ-8, Z-9, Mi-8, Z-10, Ka-28, AS365
InterceptorJ-7, J-8
PatrolY-8, Y-9
ReconnaissanceY-9
TrainerJL-8, JL-9
TransportY-7, Y-9
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese中国人民解放军海军
Traditional Chinese中國人民解放軍海軍
Literal meaningChina People Liberation Army Sea Army
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhōngguó Rénmín Jiěfàngjūn Hǎijūn
People's Navy
Simplified Chinese人民海军
Traditional Chinese人民海軍
Literal meaningPeople Navy
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinRénmín Hǎijūn
Chinese Navy
Simplified Chinese中国海军
Traditional Chinese中國海軍
Literal meaningChina Navy
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhōngguó Hǎijūn
People's Liberation Army
Executive departments
Staff
Services
Arms
Domestic troops
Special operations force
Military districts
History of the Chinese military
Military ranks of China

The People's Liberation Army Navy[a], also known as the People's Navy, PLA Navy or simply Chinese Navy, is the naval warfare branch of the People's Liberation Army, the national military of the People's Republic of China. It is composed of five sub-branches: the Surface Force, the Submarine Force, the Coastal Defense Force, the Marine Corps and the Naval Air Force, with a total strength of 350,000 personnel, including 70,000 marines and 30,000 naval aviation personnel.[5] The PLAN's combat units are deployed among three theater command fleets, namely the North Sea, East Sea and South Sea Fleet, which serve the Northern, Eastern and Southern Theater Command, respectively.

The PLAN was formally established on 23 April 1949[6] and traces its lineage to maritime fighting units during the Chinese Civil War, including many elements of the Republic of China Navy which had defected. Until the late 1980s, the PLAN was largely a riverine and littoral force (brown-water navy) mostly in charge of coastal defense and patrol against potential Nationalist amphibious invasions and territorial waters disputes in the East and South China Sea (roles that are now largely relegated to the paramilitary China Coast Guard), and had been traditionally a maritime support subordinate to the PLA Ground Force. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Chinese leadership were freed from overland border concerns with the northern neighbor and shifted towards more forward-oriented foreign and national security policies in the 1990s, and the PLAN leaders were able to advocate for renewed attention toward limited command of the seas as a green-water navy operating in the marginal seas within the range of coastal air parity.

Into the 21st century, Chinese military officials have outlined plans to operate with blue water capability between the first and second island chains,[7] with Chinese strategists talking about the modernization of the PLAN into "a regional blue-water defensive and offensive navy."[8] Transitioning into a blue-water navy, regular naval exercises and patrols have increased in the Taiwan Strait, the Senkaku Islands/Diaoyutai in the East China Sea, and within the nine-dash line in the South China Sea, and all of which China claims as its territory[9][10][11] despite the Republic of China (ROC, i.e. Taiwan), Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines each also claiming a significant part of the South China Sea.[12][13] Some exercises and patrols of the PLAN in recent years went as close as the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Japan, Taiwan, and Alaska although undisputed territorial waters have been not been crossed except in cases of innocent passage.[14][15][16][17]

As of 2024, the PLAN is the second-largest navy in the world by total displacement tonnage[18] — at 2 million tons in 2024, behind only the United States Navy (USN)[19] — and the largest navy globally by number of active sea-going ships (excluding coastal missile boats, gunboats and minesweepers)[20][21] with over 370 surface ships and submarines in service,[22] compared to approximately 292 ships and submarines in the USN.[23] However, the Chinese fleets are much newer and smaller in tonnage, as about 70% of their warships were launched after 2010 and consist mostly of newly designed destroyers, frigates and corvettes with only a few amphibious warfare ships and the two commissioned aircraft carriers, while only about 25% of the American ships were launched after 2010 and majority of their tonnage are from its eleven 100,000-ton supercarriers, 21 large amphibious assault ships and experimental capital ships such as the Zumwalt-class destroyers.[24] The dominance of Chinese shipbuilding capacity (over 230 times greater than the United States, according to the Alliance for American Manufacturing[25]) have led the Office of Naval Intelligence to project that China will have 475 battle force ships by 2035 while the USN will have 305 to 317,[26] which would put the United States in a numerical and operational disadvantage especially in the West Pacific according to a chair naval strategy professor at the Naval War College.[27]

  1. ^ "The PLA Oath" (PDF). February 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2015. I am a member of the People's Liberation Army. I promise that I will follow the leadership of the Communist Party of China...
  2. ^ International Institute for Strategic Studies 2024, p. 256.
  3. ^ International Institute for Strategic Studies 2024, p. 257-258.
  4. ^ International Institute for Strategic Studies 2024, p. 258.
  5. ^ International Institute for Strategic Studies 2024, p. 256-260.
  6. ^ "中国人民解放军海军成立70周年多国海军活动新闻发布会在青岛举行". mod.gov.cn (in Chinese). Ministry of National Defence of the People's Republic of China. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  7. ^ "China to conduct naval drills in Pacific amid tension". Reuters. 30 January 2013.
  8. ^ Ronald O'Rourke, "China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities – Background and Issues for Congress", 10 December 2012, p. 7
  9. ^ "Indonesia bolsters navy as China steps up incursions around ASEAN".
  10. ^ "Japanese Submarines to Counter Chinese Navy Incursions". Forbes.
  11. ^ "China says its carrier group exercising near Taiwan, drills will become regular". Reuters. 6 April 2021.
  12. ^ "What is nine-dash line? The basis of China's claim to sovereignty over South China Sea". Theprint.in. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  13. ^ "The Dispute Over the South China Sea" (PDF). Constitutional Rights Foundation. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  14. ^ Gordon, Michael R.; Youssef, Nancy A. (6 August 2023). "WSJ News Exclusive | Russia and China Sent Large Naval Patrol Near Alaska". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  15. ^ "Japan protests Chinese navy ship entering Japanese waters". Reuters. 8 June 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  16. ^ Ogura, Brad Lendon,Junko (12 May 2023). "Chinese warships sail around Japan as tensions rise ahead of G7 summit". CNN. Retrieved 10 August 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ "China says Taiwan encirclement drills a 'serious warning'". AP News. 12 April 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  18. ^ "Global Naval Powers Ranking (2024)". World Directory of Modern Military Warships. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  19. ^ Axe, David (5 November 2021). "Yes, China Has More Warships Than The USA. That's Because Chinese Ships Are Small". Forbes. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  20. ^ Lendon, Brad (17 January 2023). "Expert's warning to US Navy on China: Bigger fleet almost always wins". CNN. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  21. ^ "The state of the U.S. Navy as China builds up its naval force and threatens Taiwan". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  22. ^ "2023 China Military Power Report" (PDF). Media.defense.gov.
  23. ^ "Naval Vessel Register". nvr.navy.mil/.
  24. ^ Palmer, Alexander; Carroll, Henry H.; Velazquez, Nicholas (5 June 2024). "Unpacking China's Naval Buildup". Center for Strategic and International Studies. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  25. ^ Adams, Cathalijne (18 September 2023). "China's Shipbuilding Capacity is 232 Times Greater Than That of the United States". Alliance for American Manufacturing. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  26. ^ Trevithick, Joseph (11 July 2023). "Alarming Navy Intel Slide Warns Of China's 200 Times Greater Shipbuilding Capacity". The War Zone. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  27. ^ Tangredi, Sam J. (January 2023). "Bigger Fleets Win". Proceedings. Vol. 149/1/1439. United States Naval Institute. Retrieved 14 June 2024.


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