China and the Illusion of Power

China has drawn a great deal of attention over the years, often as a potential threat. But is this threat as big as it seems, of is it more a case of hype? One thing about China's military that is most impressive is its sheer size. Even today, it has large numbers of jet fighters, ships, and submarines. In many cases, these numbers vastly exceed the forces available to United States Pacific Command, and China is building more modern ships. But is China really a threat to its neighbors?

The Chinese Navy (PLAN) and Chinese Air Force (PLAAF) are both examples of this modernization in progress. Both forces are modernizing leaps and bounds. The PLAN has been adding modern domestic-built destroyers like the Luyang and Luzhou-class, and supplementing them with Sovremenny-class destroyers from Russia. The Chinese are also adding a new frigate class as well, the Jiangkai-class, with the Jiangwei I, Jiangwei II, and Jiangwei III classes of frigates also entering service. This would give the Chinese Navy 14 modern destroyers and 26 modern frigates by 2015.

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