• Burmese
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
23 °c
Ashburn
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Asia

China’s Navy Goes Global

Jens Kastner by Jens Kastner
August 23, 2012
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0 0
A A
China's Navy Goes Global

Chinese navy personnel stand at attention on the Chinese military vessel Zheng He in the Ecuadorian seaport of Guayaquil on July 13

2.1k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

China is developing a ship-based cruise missile that has the capability to attack targets thousands of kilometers inland, snapshots published by a military enthusiast website suggest. For the first time, that would give the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy a weapon comparable to the US’s hugely successful Tomahawk missile.

It is the newest chapter in Beijing’s quest to be taken seriously as a global military power. While China has had land-based cruise missiles for perhaps a decade, the emergence of the new ship-launched ones, which are designed to carry out long-distance precision attacks against targets on land at the lowest risk to its own forces, is an indication of how far the Chinese has come since Mao Zedong was in charge.

Under Mao, China’s navy was concentrated on coastal defense and for the possible invasion of Taiwan. It wasn’t until Chinese military planners in the late 1990s realized that their rising country could quickly be brought to its knees by an enemy seeking to choke off the economy’s supply of oil and other raw materials on the high seas.

RelatedPosts

How Myanmar Military Conscripts Child Soldiers

How Myanmar Military Conscripts Child Soldiers

June 24, 2025
45
Myanmar Junta Scrambles for Chinese Energy Investment as Lights Go Out

Myanmar Junta Scrambles for Chinese Energy Investment as Lights Go Out

June 23, 2025
1.2k
New Law on Civil Servants by Myanmar’s Parallel Gov’t Troubles Observers

New Law on Civil Servants by Myanmar’s Parallel Gov’t Troubles Observers

June 23, 2025
810

Currently 74 destroyers and frigates as well as 63 submarines make up the Chinese blue-water navy. The new missiles, which in theory could be launched from either platform, are expected to do their share in beefing up the force. What ship-launched land-attack cruise missiles can achieve has been impressively demonstrated by the US Navy and its allies in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the 1995 Bosnian War, the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the 2011 campaign against Libya, among others.

According to James R. Holmes, an associate professor at the US Naval War College, it’s clear that the Chinese Tomahawk isn’t meant for contingencies in East and Southeast Asia. Against China’s opponents there, they are hardly needed.

“China’s inventory of land-based ballistic missiles already gives Beijing an enormous asset to Chinese diplomacy vis-a-vis countries within the missile envelope strikingly depicted in the Pentagon’s annual reports on Chinese military power,” Holmes told Asia Sentinel. But, he said, outside the range of the Second Artillery, the unit controlling the PLA’s arsenal of land-based nuclear and conventional missiles, the picture is different.

“There a land-attack cruise missile grants the PLA Navy an option to project power from the sea, much as the US Navy has enjoyed since the Tomahawk debuted in the 1980s,” Holmes said. “This is part of China’s coming-out party as a blue-water sea power.”

In order to evolve from a Mao-inspired naval force that kept its home ports pretty much in view to one that ensures free passage for Chinese merchant fleets tens of thousands of kilometers away, Beijing not only needs continuing breakthroughs in the acquisition of weapon systems but must also send the navy to practice. Farewell ceremonies in China’s naval bases have been becoming more and more familiar to the Chinese blue-water fleets ever since 2008, when China became a participating member in the international anti-piracy patrols off Somalia, having marked the first time Chinese warships operated outside their own territorial waters.

Illustrating the Somalia mission’s importance to the navy’s coming-of-age are the numbers when added up: Since operations began, in stints that last about four months, Beijing has dispatched 11 naval escort task forces that usually consist of one or two destroyers or frigates and one supply ship. If deployment continues at this pace, each destroyer and frigate will have had its turn in about five years.

Because the task forces come with well over 600 sailors plus a few dozen special operations personnel, thousands of Chinese military men and women who rotate through the anti-pirate patrol operations are provided with the opportunity to get somewhere near to what could cautiously be described as real combat stations.

Chances to sail elsewhere for the odd operation and also to carry out friendly calls to far-away ports have been deriving from the Somalia mission: In 2010, Chinese warships visited Egypt, Italy and Greece. Last year, a missile frigate was diverted from the Somali coast to waters off Libya. In what amounted to the navy’s first-ever operation in the Mediterranean, it protected the evacuation of Chinese civilians amid the raging civil war some 12,000 km from its home port.

In mid-August, also for the first time in history, the PLA Navy paid a friendly visit to Israel and later made its maiden entry into the Black Sea, sailing with a destroyer and a frigate that are part of the 11th Chinese naval escort task force, to Bulgaria. The Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark has also been cruising Asian, African and Caribbean waters in the meantime, treating tens of thousands of afflicted people as part of a goodwill mission.

Although Chinese soldiers and sailors have fired hardly any shots during their stints off the African coast, let alone on excursions into the Mediterranean, the missions are hugely valuable because according to the PLA calculus, this hands-on experience would be badly needed if in future conflicts an enemy were to block the Suez Canal, the Strait of Hormuz or the Malacca Strait.

Professor Holmes says a Chinese “Tomahawk” fits neatly into the equation. He finds that although such a system is of concrete use mainly for powers like the US, which unlike China do not maintain an inventory of conventional, land-based ballistic missiles that can devastate most potential opponents, in China’s case, it’s a very plausible choice, if only to provide Beijing’s foreign policy with powerful argumentative ammunition.

“Demonstrated capability confers diplomatic influence,” he said. “This adds luster to the PLA Navy’s reputation outside East Asia and to China’s reputation more broadly.”

Your Thoughts …
Jens Kastner

Jens Kastner

Asia Sentinel

Similar Picks:

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang
Burma

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang

by Hein Htoo Zan
November 28, 2023
98.3k

Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army troops are opening roads and pathways through forests for people to flee Kokang’s capital as...

Read moreDetails
Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public
Burma

Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public

by The Irrawaddy
February 7, 2024
89.4k

People’s Defense Force says junta troops told every household in the village to send one member to witness the double...

Read moreDetails
Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State
War Against the Junta

Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State

by The Irrawaddy
November 29, 2023
87k

Brotherhood Alliance member says it now has complete control of Kokang’s northernmost section after the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 125...

Read moreDetails
Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks
Burma

Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks

by The Irrawaddy
December 4, 2023
59k

The junta said deserters would not be punished for minor crimes, highlighting the military’s shortage of troops as resistance offensives...

Read moreDetails
As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue
Burma

As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue

by The Irrawaddy
April 19, 2024
46.9k

The junta’s No. 2 has not been seen in public since April 3, sparking rumors that he was either gravely...

Read moreDetails
Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow
Burma

Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow

by The Irrawaddy
February 12, 2024
44.7k

Ethnic armed grouping says it will continue Operation 1027 offensive until goal of ousting the junta is achieved. 

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Copper Mine Land Grabs Protest Heats Up

Copper Mine Land Grabs Protest Heats Up

Human Rights Course Forced to Close

Human Rights Course Forced to Close

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

China is Systematically Dismantling Tibetan Monastic Traditions

China is Systematically Dismantling Tibetan Monastic Traditions

1 week ago
1.9k
The Lady Myanmar’s Generals Can’t Defeat

The Lady Myanmar’s Generals Can’t Defeat

5 days ago
835

Most Read

  • Myanmar Junta Scrambles for Chinese Energy Investment as Lights Go Out

    Myanmar Junta Scrambles for Chinese Energy Investment as Lights Go Out

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • New Law on Civil Servants by Myanmar’s Parallel Gov’t Troubles Observers

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Moves to Seize Sagaing Roads

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Changes Election Law Ahead of Polls

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Certifying a Chinese Security Invasion; Boosting Ties With Nuclear North Korea; and More

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.