BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday urged his country's military to prepare for conflicts at sea and protect its maritime rights and interests during a meeting with delegations of the armed forces, state-run media said, amid tensions in the East and South China seas.
So the CCP had the largest navy in the world (number of ships) while at the same time it is also the least experienced. It only became a green water navy in the last 20 or 30 years. It basically has no institutional knowledge. The current top level commanders were the very first generation of sailors to do anything besides patrol the shore.
Additionally they lack regional peer competition. This could make them seem more effective than they are. Both in the mindes of outside analysts and internally. Ultimately this makes it much harder to estimate the true effectiveness of their Navy. No one knows whether or not to over or under estimate their naval power.
They have more than billion people to grind through. If they wanted, they could win a naval conflict on foot. Not many would last to enjoy the victory, but still…