So while there are a lot of things worth worrying about in ChinaвЂ™s military modernization, ChinaвЂ™s conventional Navy looks awfully undersized and coastal-too small to fight, but ideal for securing and colonizing outposts that ChinaвЂ™s expeditionary вЂњPhony War FleetвЂќ has already grabbed-snatched from a timorous international community that is, quite likely, too frightened by the PentagonвЂ™s constant overestimation of the conventional Chinese вЂњthreatвЂќ to resist.ДЇear ChinaвЂ™s Sovereignty-Grabbing вЂњPhony FleetвЂќД¬hinaвЂ™s massive вЂњPhony FleetвЂќ of low-end integrated maritime forces is well worth fearing. In 2019, South Korea outbuilt China by tonnage, with Japan and Italy following behind. But, again, other countries have a vote here. The reportвЂ™s hyperventilation over how вЂњChina has already achieved parity with-or even exceeded-the United StatesвЂќ in shipbuilding is old news.

On the amphibious side, much of ChinaвЂ™s 52-ship fleet of tank and medium landing ships listed in the PentagonвЂ™s report are obsolete and need replacing.Д¬ertainly, if economic conditions permit, ChinaвЂ™s conventional fleet is set to grow over time. These corvettes boast a Littoral Combat Ship-sized crew, which, in AmericaвЂ™s case, вЂњwas barely able to meet the NavyвЂ™s underway watch requirements and struggled to maintain qualified security teams while the ship was in port.вЂќ These are simply vessels for imposing Chinese sovereignty in waters near any base China is lucky enough to establish. Type 056s comprise a second set of pint-sized, limited-mission, 1500-ton patrol vessels, half the displacement of an old American World War II-era GearingВ classВ destroyer. The Type 022s are only useful off islands, bases and other areas where China has sufficient support infrastructure in place.Д¬hinaвЂ™s fearsome-seeming numbers were also bulked up by some 49 modern Jiangdao class Type 056/056AВ corvettes. The pint-sized catamarans are tough on their crews, and even if these patrol craft evolve to become вЂњoptionally unmannedвЂќ platforms, their endurance is very limited. And, while the CyclonesВ are mixing it up in the Persian Gulf and catching smugglers in the Caribbean, the Type 022вЂ™s are not out roaming the high seas. Navy refuses to include the CyclonesВ as part of AmericaвЂ™s battle fleet.

NavyвЂ™s 13 pint-sized 336-ton CycloneВ Class ( PC-1) patrol craft outweigh ChinaвЂ™s Type 022 patrol boats, yet the U.S. America doesnвЂ™t even bother to count vessels of this size. Most of these patrol boats are 60 tiny, 220-ton missile-carrying catamarans, Type 022 HoubeiВ class missile patrol boats. Of the forces arrayed in ChinaвЂ™s 350-unit вЂњbattle forceвЂќ, the Pentagon included 86 missile patrol boats. South KoreaвЂ™s green-water fleetВ is nothing shabby either, and KoreaвЂ™s vast array of frigates, corvettes and patrol vessels can easily rebuff ChinaвЂ™s mass of small conventional escorts.ДЄmerica, even without the help of nearby friends, still outmatches ChinaвЂ™s conventional Navy. JapanвЂ™s eight 10,000 ton-range Kongo, AtagoВ and MayaВ class heavyweight destroyers can easily go toe-to-toe with ChinaвЂ™s planned set of eight over-hyped but likely nuclear-armed Type 055 RenhaiВ class cruisers.

Despite some oddly defeatist talk from some DC thinktanks, Japan maintains a formidable force of almost 30 destroyers, two pocket aircraft carriers, and one of the most modern undersea fleets in world.

In the First Island ChainВ alone, the Japanese Maritime Self Defense ForceВ boasts a fleet of some 150 modern vessels. Given the extensive maritime threats on ChinaвЂ™s maritime periphery, the conventional Chinese Navy remains a coastal defense sideshow, poorly-sized to contend with the big and modern navies that surround much of ChinaвЂ™s coast. ChinaвЂ™s вЂњPhony War FleetвЂќ is the present threat, and Secretary of Defense Mark EsperвЂ™s low-cost robots can do little to stop it. ChinaвЂ™s small conventional Navy is only set to hold whatever advanced positions ChinaвЂ™s вЂњPhony War FleetвЂќ can grab. And while the Pentagon dreams of a low-cost robotic surface fleet, building up the reputation of ChinaвЂ™s pipsqueak conventional Navy to get it, ChinaвЂ™s massive вЂњPhony War FleetвЂќ gets a relative pass.

A rather large fleet of civilian ships