China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has expanded its global reach and moved more regularly and in greater mass beyond its regional waters in the past year as it continues to roll out warships and logistics support vessels that provide the force with greater range. That’s one finding from the unclassified version of an annual Pentagon report to Congress on China’s military, released Wednesday.
The 182-page report assesses the state of the force up through early 2024. It doesn’t indicate when the PLAN, which numbers more than 370 vessels, might be able to operate with regularity close to American coastlines, but it addresses other areas where the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is bolstering its maritime power projection capabilities.

“These have included efforts to increase the PLA Navy’s distance sea training … that includes in the eastern Indian Ocean and in the western Pacific Ocean,” a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Monday, ahead of the report’s rollout. “And they also have a pretty significant level of global engagements, including port calls as distant as the Middle East and Africa. So I think that’s a pretty good encapsulation of where they are right now.”
As the PLAN emerges as a global maritime player, one that has had a continuous presence in the Gulf of Aden since 2008 via its permanent base in Djibouti, the service’s surface and undersea platforms are propelling this growing capability that can enable combat operations beyond the reach of the nation’s land-based defenses, the report states.
In addition, its growing aircraft carrier force is extending air defense coverage for deployed task groups, while its “emerging requirement for sea-based land-attack systems will enhance the PRC’s ability to project power,” the report notes.
“Furthermore, the PLAN has a sizable force of highly capable logistical replenishment ships to support long-distance, long-duration deployments, including two new FUYU class fast combat support ships (AOEs) built specifically to support aircraft carrier and large-deck amphibious ship operations,” the report states. “The PLAN’s expanding fleet of large modern amphibious warships enable it to conduct a wide range of expeditionary operations wherever PRC interests are threatened or in support of PRC participation in internationally sanctioned operations.”
TWZ has reported on a myriad of PLAN operations in recent years that reflect this increased global ambition. U.S. Coast Guard vessels trailed four unidentified Chinese warships sailing in America’s Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska’s Aleutian Islands in August 2021, and Chinese ships have had a sporadic but increasing presence there since. A PLAN task force was active in the Mediterranean Sea back in July 2017, with China’s naval task force joining its Russian counterparts for drills in the Baltic Sea, as well.

China’s global maritime goals are further aided by a surface warship and submarine-building industry that is believed to have 200 times more capacity than its American counterparts, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) warned in 2023.
As it pursues a “strong and modernized navy force” on the high seas, the PLAN has worked to update or replace previous generations of naval platforms that had limited capabilities, in favor of bigger, modern multi-mission combatants, according to the Pentagon assessment.
“Today, the PLAN is largely composed of modern multi-role platforms featuring advanced anti-ship, anti-air and anti-submarine weapons and sensors,” the report states. “The PLAN is emphasizing maritime joint operations and joint integration with the other branches of the [People’s Liberation Army]. This modernization aligns with the PRC’s growing emphasis on maritime domain and increasing demands for the PLAN to operate at greater distances from mainland China.”
Among those new ships, the service in 2023 certified an eighth Rehnai class guided-missile cruiser that deployed with a 112-cell Vertical Launching System (VLS) array that can fire land attack, anti-ship, anti-air and anti-submarine weapons, along with radar, communications and sensors that increased its situational awareness.

Also known as the Type 055 design, the Renhai class dwarfs comparable U.S. warships, as TWZ reported in 2022:
“At just over 590 and a half feet long and with a full displacement of between 12,000 and 13,000 tons, the U.S. military, among others, categorizes the Type 055 design, also known in the West as the Renhai class, as a cruiser rather than a destroyer. For comparison, the U.S. Navy’s future expanded Flight III Arleigh Burke class destroyers will be 509 and a half feet long and displace around 10,864 tons. In terms of general lengths and displacements, the Type 055s, are also larger than the Navy’s 567-foot-long and 10,752-ton-displacement Ticonderoga class cruisers.”
The service began launch tests of the electromagnetic catapults aboard its third aircraft carrier, Fujian, this year. Once operational, China’s third carrier will allow it to launch various specialized aircraft, “increasing the PLAN’s power projection capability,” the report states. Go here to read more about Fujian, China’s first domestically produced and locally designed carrier and the first in the PLAN to launch aircraft via catapults and not “ski jump” takeoff ramps. It is believed to be the nation’s most capable carrier yet and was named in a high-profile 2022 event. China’s carrier fleet, which also includes the Liaoning and the Shandong, were all concurrently at sea for the first time in September.
PLAN’s carrier force is escorted by the service’s newest and most capable surface combatants, including the aforementioned Type 055, the Type 052 Luyang III and Luyang III MOD class guided-missile destroyers, which “will likely be equipped with a planned naval variant of the Z-20 helicopter,” a medium-lift multi-role helicopter analogous to the MH-60R Sea Hawk.
The PLAN also had eight Type 071 Yuzhao class landing platform dock ships (LPD) and four Type 075 Yushen class amphibious assault ships (LHA) in its armada as of December 2023, according to the Pentagon report. TWZ reported in August 2024 on a Yuzhao class LPD spotted with a laser onboard for testing.

Meanwhile, China is readying a monster-sized amphibious assault ship known as the Type 076, which the U.S. military now also refers to as the Yulan class. Featuring a large open flight deck, TWZ reported in May 2024 that the ship could feature catapults and arresting gear to support an air wing that includes uncrewed combat air vehicles (UCAV) and other fixed-wing drones. Size-wise, satellite imagery showed it was roughly in between the Type 075 amphib and the carrier Fujian in size.
“The PLAN’s expanding fleet of large modern amphibious warships will enable it to conduct a wide range of expeditionary operations to protect the [People’s Republic of China’s] interests or in support of international operations,” the Pentagon report states.
Beyond its permanent base in Djibouti, the PLA is “very likely already considering and planning for additional military logistics facilities to support naval, air and ground forces projection,” the report states. Countries being considered for such hubs include Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, Cuba, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, the Seychelles, Tanzania, Angola, Nigeria, Namibia, Mozambique, Gabon, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Tajikistan.
Beijing views internal conflicts in Ethiopia and Sudan, or the Iran-backed Houthis’ ongoing attacks on vessels transiting the Red Sea, as proof that China needs a military that can operate farther from the homeland.

“The PRC asserts that military logistics facilities, like its Djibouti base, will be used to provide international public goods like [humanitarian aid and disaster relief] and secure the PRC’s lines of communication, citizens, and assets abroad,” the report states.
TWZ also reported Wednesday on the Pentagon report’s section on Chinese air asset development, including the stealthy, long-awaited H-20 bomber. While U.S. officials don’t expect it to be operational until the next decade, such a capability would further Beijing’s reach in the skies, even as the PLAN makes progress on the seas.
An expanding and further-reaching Chinese navy will have increasing implications on the current global order, a Pax Americana backed by U.S. Navy gray hulls since World War II. It will see Beijing’s flotillas heading further east, putting them closer to critical U.S. territories on a regular basis. How the U.S. will deal with this new reality as its own fleet is struggling to expand its capacity is yet to be seen.
Contact the author: geoff@twz.com