China restarts mass production of Type 052D destroyers, media reports say

A naval fleet comprised of the guided-missile destroyers Ningbo (Hull 139) and Taiyuan (Hull 131), as well as the guided-missile frigate Nantong (Hull 601), steams in astern formation in waters of the East China Sea during a maritime training drill in late January, 2021. Photo: China Military

With five Type 052D destroyers allegedly spotted under construction at the Dalian Shipyard, China is said to have restarted the mass production of this type of warship, with foreign media hyping that the fast pace of China's shipbuilding makes the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy "the largest navy in the world," a claim that Chinese analysts slammed on Tuesday as being the rhetoric of the "China threat" theory.

An unverified picture recently circulating on social media showed what seemed to be five Type 052D destroyers at various stages of completion at the Dalian Shipyard in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, Paris-based media outlet Naval News reported on Sunday.

In addition to these five, at least one more is being built at the Jiangnan Changxing Shipyard in Shanghai, and they will soon join the 25 warships of the same class currently in service with the PLA Navy, Naval News said, citing observers.

China has not officially announced its warship construction plan.

Since China aims to basically complete the modernization of its national defense and armed forces by 2035, including the development of a blue-water navy, to match the country's international status and better defend its interests, it is not unexpected if China is indeed building more advanced warships, particularly amid the current turbulent global security situation, analysts said.

Before the latest round of destroyer construction, China's shipbuilding industry launched a record 10 destroyers in 2019 with eight more in 2021, Naval News reported, noting that with such a pace of construction, the PLA Navy "confirms its status of largest in the world," a rank reached in 2021, according to a Pentagon report.

To say the PLA Navy is the largest in the world is an overstatement used to hype the "China threat" theory, because the Pentagon only counts the vessels' quantity and not quality - in this context, the displacement of the ships, a Beijing-based military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Comprehensively speaking, the US Navy is by far the largest in the world with 11 nuclear-powered super carriers. Even speaking by numbers, the US has some 70 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, many more than their Chinese Type 052D counterparts, the expert said.

The PLA Navy's rapid development indeed reflects the capabilities of China's shipbuilding industry, but China uses the vessels to safeguard its sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests, as well as provide public security service to the international community and contribute to peace and stability, unlike the US, which uses warships to maintain its global hegemony, the expert said.