In a new report, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) analyzed the progress, intentions and potential challenges to the U.S. Navy posed by the Chinese Communist Party‘s naval modernization efforts. The report says the CCP is seen as posing a significant challenge to the U.S. Navy’s ability to achieve and maintain wartime control of the deep waters of the Western Pacific, the first such challenge to the U.S. Navy since the end of the Cold War, and a key element in the CCP’s challenge to the United States’ longstanding position as the leading military power in the Western Pacific.
The report, last updated Jan. 27 by the Congressional Research Service, said that in an era of great power competition between the United States and China, the Chinese Communist Party’s military modernization efforts, including its naval modernization efforts, have become a focus of U.S. defense planning and budgetary attention.
The report says that the Chinese Communist Navy, which has been modernizing for 25 years, has become a formidable military force in China’s offshore areas and is conducting more and more operations in more distant waters, including the vast expanses of the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean and waters around Europe.
The report notes that the CCP Navy’s modernization efforts include an extensive program of ship, aircraft and weapons procurement, as well as improvements in maintenance and logistics, doctrine, personnel quality, Education and training, and maneuvers.
The report analyzes the CCP Navy’s strengths in anti-ship missiles, submarines, aircraft carriers, surface ships, and amphibious ships.
“The Chinese Communist Navy is seen as posing a significant challenge to the U.S. Navy’s ability to achieve and maintain wartime control of the deep waters of the Western Pacific, the first such challenge to the U.S. Navy since the end of the Cold War, and a key element of the Chinese Communist Party’s challenge to the United States’ longstanding position as the leading military power in the Western Pacific,” the report concludes.
The Congressional Research Service, part of the Library of Congress, is known as the “think tank of Congress” and provides policy and legal analysis to committees and members of the House and Senate.
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