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Chinese Naval fleet surpasses US fleet in size… yet DOD continues refusal to provide shipbuilding plan
Posted by Randy | January 13, 2010

Today I attended a House Armed Services Committee hearing on recent security developments in China. According to the testimony of Admiral Robert F. Willard, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, China has increased its number of ships to 290, bypassing the current number of U.S. ships by 6.  This is an increase of over 30 ships since the Department of Defense last released research on the size of China’s navy in March of last year.

 

The fact that China’s navy is larger than our navy is unnerving.  But contrast this information with the fact that the Department of Defense continues its refusal to provide a shipbuilding plan to Congress as required by law, and that our federal government continues to face forecasts of severe debt and budget deficits. The broader view is alarming and cause for serious concern. 

 

I questioned the Department of Defense on this issue during the hearing. Watch our exchange in this video:
Comments
The opinions expressed below are those of their respective authors and do not necessarily represent those of this office.
  • Dennis Jones commented on 1/15/2010
    Congressman Forbes, I am not concerned that the Chinese Navy has more ships than United States. You and the Congress must take actions to reduce our military spending. The dollars foolishly spent on defense take away dollars that can be used to reduce the deficit of this country. The United States must have a security force for its defense. However, the country's defense can not involve an escalation in spending to make our forces larger than the forces of any other country. The citizens of this country love it and will defend it until the cows come home. There has never been a time when this country was ill-prepared to do battle against visible enemies. The US needs to be afraid of China but it is not their Navy that should scare us. The Chinese are making inroads on the African continent and every continent in the world in humanitarian ways and in economic ways that are making their country moved to the forefront as the major world superpower. I do not see China as worrying that the United States may catch up in the number of Navy ships; I see China as worrying that we will not have moneys to buy their good because we have foolishly spent it all in a childish arms race.
  • Charlie Shaw commented on 1/29/2010
    Randy, I’m certainly on the side of a strong defense, but I am writing to seek some clarifications to the numbers presented. These are: a. Do the 290 ships attributed to the Chinese Navy include all ships possessed by their defense forces, to include those elements with similar missions as our Coast Guard and Army? b. If so, while it may not strengthen the case, should not the 283 US ship comparison cited be plussed up by the ships assigned to the U.S. Army (51, as per a 2003 report: http://www.hazegray.org/worldnav/usa/army.htm) and the U.S. Coast Guard? Finally, just counting 'ships' is obviously a grossly over-simplistic comparison. It's total mission capability that counts, and there are many other factors which go into that computation. Charlie Shaw LTC, USA Ret’d
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