A decade ago, the United States Navy was considered the world’s largest and most advanced fleet, capable of projecting power across the globe. At the same time, China’s small fleet did not even include frigates. The nation was only capable of producing coastal fast-attack craft at a reasonable rate, so Chinese maritime power maintained only a regional influence. But in the years since, China has produced destroyer and frigate programs, meaning that it can aim to challenge the U.S. in the region.

China is boosting its production of warships, as well as extending its reach around the world.

“Not only are China’s simultaneous destroyer and frigate (and cruiser and cutter) programs the envy of the world, Beijing’s aspiration to wield ‘super carriers’ is no longer a laughing matter at all,” Lyle Goldstein wrote for the National Interest (April 2).

China is in the process of “completing perhaps the world’s largest nuclear submarine fabrication facility,” Goldstein wrote. An alarming article on the China Strategic Emerging Industry website discusses a new “super factory” in Huludao, which China claims took only a year to construct. The website boasts that “Western production lines for the most part can only build one submarine, and only the U.S. is capable of building two submarines simultaneously, but China is now capable of building four!”

The facility is projected to double the rate of nuclear submarine production over the course of the next two to three years, producing a superior generation of Chinese submarines. Goldstein further wrote:

According to this article, China already has at least four Type 094/094A ballistic missile submarines and at least five Type 093/093G attack submarines, so it is speculated that the new facility is to build the successor third-generation classes of Type 096 ballistic missile submarines and Type 095 attack submarines.

China has come a long way from coastal fast attack fleets. Now the question within its Navy circles is “whether to prioritize the aircraft carrier or large surface ships or nuclear submarines … but concludes that there is a consensus behind ‘balanced development,’” wrote Goldstein.

China is also expanding its naval bases. Chinese naval magazine Naval & Merchant Ships carried an article titled “China Might Send Submarines to Guard the Port of Gwadar.” Goldstein wrote:

These submarines would work together with the Pakistan Navy to protect the port and also “maritime trade routes.” The report also says there is a possibility that the Chinese Navy will build a base there and use it to “support the activities of its fleet in the Indian Ocean.” True, the source of this information is revealed to be the Pakistan Navy, but it would be quite unusual for this Chinese Navy-affiliated magazine to lead with such a headline if there was no basis to it.

These and other developments “should raise some eyebrows in Washington, New Delhi and elsewhere,” wrote Goldstein.

Dr. Sam Beatson—teaching fellow at the Lau China Institute, King’s College London—made similar warnings in an interview with the Diplomat’s Mercy Kuo:

China is expanding as a maritime power in terms of port and shipping assets, naval power, and independence, not unlike the UK 200 years ago in its exporting to other areas of empire. China has in a tentacular fashion invested billions of dollars in expanding its international port network in addition to Chinese naval hardware, including surface vessels, such as warships and aircraft carriers, and nuclear submarines, such as those stationed on Hainan Island province’s southerly coast.

Within the past few years, China has been developing its naval industrial capacity at an unprecedented rate and continues to fortify the South China Sea. Ignoring the territorial claims of its surrounding nations, China continues to provocatively build up man-made islands where it has installed antiaircraft batteries and stationed fighter jets throughout the Spratly and Paracel Islands. These military buildups have allowed China to project more power throughout the region and as Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote, “These militarized islands now function as forward bases for Beijing to challenge seven decades of American naval dominance in the Pacific Rim. This should alarm the world!” He continued:

By building artificial islands atop coral reefs in the Spratlys, and installing surface-to-air missile batteries in the Paracels, China is building a new strategic sea gate. After passing through the Strait of Malacca, oil tankers and other ships pass between the Spratly and Paracel Islands on the way through the South China Sea. …

Each year, $5.3 trillion of trade passes through the South China Sea. That is roughly one third of the world’s maritime commerce! Since Japan’s defeat in World War ii, America has protected this vital trade route and brought peace to this part of the world. Now the American military is retreating, and other great powers are coming in to fill the vacuum. This is going to dramatically affect trade around the world, and U.S. trade especially.

A trade war often precedes a shooting war. That is what happened just before World War ii—especially so in Asia.

China’s rapid advances in navy construction exacerbates the threat it poses in this region. To better understand where China’s naval buildup and control over the South China Sea is leading, read Mr. Flurry’s article “China Is Steering the World Toward War.”