China’s massive shipbuilding empire is not without its struggles

• China’s massive shipbuilding industry is key to its military’s naval modernization.
• China’s dual commercial and military shipyards and national ambitions are major strengths.
• But military corruption and future maintenance issues raise questions about long-term sustainability.

China’s shipbuilding industry is at the center of its efforts to modernize its navy, churning out new warships at breakneck speeds.

But despite its shipbuilding strengths, which include a robust commercial sector and a variety of shipyards across the country, China’s vast shipbuilding empire is not without its challenges, such as corruption and many unanswered questions. answer about the future needs and capacity and capability of Chinese shipyards. to meet them.

China’s huge shipbuilding empire is no hidden secret. It’s a monster industry, with a capacity more than 230 times that of the US, according to recent Office of Naval Intelligence estimates. China also accounts for about 50% of total global shipbuilding capacity.

A huge shipbuilding giant

The Defense Department has long identified shipbuilding as the key to Beijing’s naval development, which has taken place at a rapid pace and directly fueled China’s naval modernization along with efforts to build a better military. This effort is perhaps best demonstrated by the types of ships made and the speed at which they are built.

China’s new aircraft carrier Fujian, for example, has a major leap in capability over its predecessors, featuring an electromagnetic catapult launch system for efficiently launching heavier and more capable aircraft. Although the aircraft carrier resembles the US Navy’s older Kitty Hawk-class conventional ships, the catapult system is technologically similar to the Navy’s first-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.

Other Chinese surface combatants such as the Type 055 destroyer, Type 054 frigates and newer amphibious assault ships are also of note. Also of note is the first Yulan-class assault ship, known as the Type 076. Once completed, it will be the largest amphibious assault ship in the world. It can also serve a very unique purpose, possibly as a drone carrier.

By 2030, the Pentagon expects the People’s Liberation Army Navy, already the world’s largest naval force, to have a combat force of 435 ships, with a notable increase in “major surface combatants.”

The strengths of China’s shipbuilding are also demonstrated by its flexibility. The crown jewel of its industry is Changxing Island, where China is overhauling its recently expanded Jiangnan Shipyard and combining it with the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard. While moving into Hudong-Zhonghua, China is still taking out ships.

Brian Hart, China Power Project Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told BI that it is a massive and impressive undertaking. “I don’t think any other country has the scale and the resources to pick up and essentially move such a massive industrial base,” he said.

China is leading its military towards the goal of becoming a world-class force, and there is clear recognition that a strong ship is key to achieving this goal. This important national ambition provides tremendous support to China’s shipbuilding empire.

“China is a very, very different kind of player” when it comes to military shipbuilding, Matthew Funaoile, a senior fellow with the China Power Project at CSIS, told Business Insider.

Another strength is that many of China’s shipyards, including its top four, are dual-purpose, meaning they are used for both commercial and military vessels. Warships and civilian ships are built in facilities, sometimes at the same time and using the same equipment.

The four yards – Dalian in northeastern China, Huangpu Wenchong near Hong Kong, and the Jiangnan and Hudong-Zhonghua yards near Shanghai – are all operated by subsidiaries of the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation, which pumps out various military vessels and also they have a record. profits in the commercial shipbuilding sector that help fuel their other operations.

Being a giant has its challenges

One problem, however, is that as China sails headlong into modernizing its military, it has also faced corruption scandals within its ranks as well as its defense industrial base.

“When you continue your military modernization at full speed, there will be a corresponding increase in corruption,” Funaoile said.

Over the past year, the People’s Liberation Army and its supporting industry have seen visible turmoil. More than a dozen senior generals and directors of the military-industrial complex have been removed from their posts since last summer, including two defense ministers.

Beijing has remained largely tight-lipped about the dismissals, offering only limited details, but the corruption investigations have shaken the Chinese leadership and raised questions about how ready the PLA is as a modernized, combat-ready fighting force.

Questions about corruption have been raised by US officials following reports that a Chinese submarine ran aground on the side of a wharf at a shipyard in Wuhan earlier this year, highlighting the risks of accidents amid China’s rapid naval development.

“The incident raises deeper questions about the PLA’s internal accountability and oversight of China’s defense industry — which has been long overdue. affected by corruption,” a senior defense official told BI this week.

Over the years, there have been signs of widespread corruption documented in the shipbuilding industry as well as other parts of China’s defense industry. High officials were suddenly removed and even arrested.

Corruption breeds incompetence or, worse, security risks. China’s leadership has made fighting corruption high on the agenda, but solving these problems will be affected by how deep they are.

However, this is not the only challenge. The rapid growth and modernization of China’s navy raises important questions about how it will ultimately balance shipbuilding and maintenance. It’s one thing to build a new fleet. It’s quite another to support it.

There could be trade-offs for China going forward, especially given its trade sector, Funaoile said. “We’re not at that point yet, but it’s something that can occur as ships are put to sea and start to wear out.”

Sustainment and maintenance costs are no small obstacle and are something the US and other powerful navies face.

“Perhaps the PLAN can run its fleet more economically than the US Navy would,” Mike Sweeney, a non-resident fellow at Defense Priorities, wrote in April. “But operating budgets can only be cut so far.”

“Fuel and providing other essential supplies for an active blue water fleet are unavoidable expenses,” Sweeney added. “Maintenance is another area where spending will inevitably increase as China deploys its fleet in global waters more consistently.”

This is one area where a more experienced navy like the US can maintain an edge, not just because of experience, but because of its greater logistical ability to keep ships fueled, supplied and maintained. But even for the US Navy and the industries that support it, this process is far from perfect and often proves difficult.