Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/ZHOUSHAN: United States Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro has said that China’s navy has significant advantages over its US rival, having a more extensive fleet and greater shipbuilding capacity, as China seeks to project its power across the oceans.
According to CNN, speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, Toro said Bijing “consistently attempts to violate the maritime sovereignty and economic well-being of other countries, including our partners in the South China Sea and elsewhere.”
US’s stance
“They (Chinese) got a larger fleet now, so they are deploying that fleet globally,” he said, adding that Washington must upgrade the US fleet in response.
“We do need a larger Navy, and we do need more ships in the future, more modern ships in the future, in particular, that can meet that threat,” he said.
China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy would be fielding up to 400 ships in the coming years, and the Navy secretary said that up from about 340 now.
Meanwhile, the United States fleet sits at under 300 ships.
According to the United States Navy’s Navigation Plan 2022, released last summer, the Pentagon aims to have 350 manned ships by 2045, still better short of the projection for China’s fleet.
Before that target is met, however, the US fleet is expected to shrink as older vessels are retired, according to a November report from the US Congressional Budget Office.
