The Beginning

designing process of China's latest ships seems to have begun in the late 1980s. the work has picked up with inputs from military operations against iraq during Operation desert storm in 1991 and as well as deployment of two us aircraft carrier strike groups near taiwan in response to Chinese missile tests and naval exercises in the region. China's naval modernisation programme is broad-based to include antiship ballistic missiles (ASBMs), anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), land-attack cruise missiles (LACMs), surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), mines, manned aircraft, unmanned aircraft, submarines, aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates, corvettes, patrol craft, amphibious ships, mine countermeasures (MCM) ships, underway replenishment ships, hospital ships, and supporting C4ISR systems. some of these acquisition programmes are discussed in detail below. China's naval modernisation effort also includes improvements in maintenance and logistics, doctrine, quality of personnel, education and training, and exercises. it also appears that the modernisation programme is focused on quality than quantity. US Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) states that China's force modernisation has concentrated on improving the quality of its force rather than its size. Quantities of major combatants have stayed relatively constant, but their combat capability has greatly increased as older combatants are replaced by larger, multi-mission ships.