Christopher Sharman, a former US assistant navy attache to Beijing and a student at National Defense University, discussed the five major steps China has taken to establish a global navy since 2004 in his new article written for the Washington-based National Interest magazine.
Between 2004 and 2006, the People's Liberation Army Navy kept itself within the region known as the First Island Chain in the Pacific, extending from Alaska to the Philippines, to avoid direct confrontation with the United States and its security partners. But the PLA Navy enhanced training in disciplines that enabled it to take steps toward conducting operations further from China's coast into the "blue water" of the open ocean, he wrote.
The PLA Navy then took its initial steps into the Western Pacific between 2007 and 2009, when it expanded its area of training operations into the Philippine Sea beyond the First Island Chain. Holding exercises in this region enhanced the PLA Navy's ability to operate in unfamiliar waters. At the same time, it also helped to develop the logistics and command and control systems necessary for operations further from home, Sharman said.
Read the full story at Want China Times