USA vs. China Ways (6.0)

What’s China’s Military Strategy? Angles from Tradition and Presence

Guess the above picture tells us a lot about China’s military strategy. Well, on one hand, China now has its 1st aircraft carrier named Liaoning operating in the sea. On the other hand, it’s easy to tell it is adapted from some old style aircraft carrier and obsolete technologies.

The ship was originally laid down in 1985 for the Soviet Navy and was launched in December 1988 with the name Varyag. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine halted the construction and put the ship for sale. Finally China purchased the stripped hulk in 1998 and towed it back to China.

The ship got renamed Liaoning and rebuilt and commissioned into the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in September 2012. In November 2016, PLAN announced that Liaoning was combat ready.

China’s 1st aircraft carrier actually makes a very good symbol of the country's journey of military modernization: the goal is for active defense, the desire is strong targeting the top tier, the hurdles are high due to challenges from technical and non technical issues, the tactics are hybrid — meaning it still copies foreign stuff a lot and makes enhancement on top, and the road is long — because China’s starting point is quite low and backward.