PLA Navy to Contribute More to World Peace
Min Jiangtao, a 34-year-old junior officer in China’s navy, has witnessed the launch of all three aircraft carriers of China, dubbed Liaoning, Shandong and Fujian.
About seven decades ago when the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy had just been established, then naval commander Xiao Jinguang had to take a fishing boat to inspect Liugong Island, about 2.1 nautical miles from the coast of China’s Shandong Province, a fact recorded in a stele inscription on the island.
This year marks the 75th founding anniversary of the PLA Navy. Over the decades, the PLA Navy has undergone steady development, starting from scratch and growing into a strategic force consisting of five services, armed with both nuclear and conventional weapons.
Poised to become a world-class naval force, the PLA Navy is determined to gain the capability to fulfill its missions and tasks in the new era, and to contribute more to maintaining peace in the world.
TOWARD A WORLD-CLASS NAVY
The PLA Navy’s weaponry and equipment development has come a long way. In the early days of the establishment of the navy, the total tonnage of its vessels was just a few thousand tonnes, which was less than a single destroyer in the navy of a major power.
The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012 marked the start of a “golden period” for the navy’s development. The achievements included the launching of the first amphibious assault ship independently developed by China in September 2019 and the commissioning of the new 10,000-tonne destroyer Nanchang in January 2020.