The U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro has revealed that just one of 13 Chinese shipyards has more shipbuilding capacity alone than all U.S. shipyards combined.
Del Toro sounded the alarm at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. earlier this year, admitting the U.S. Navy is struggling to keep up with the Chinese Communist Party‘s determination to expand its military. As a result, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy now has 340 ships compared to 280 possessed by the U.S..
The Navy chief has also stated that China continues to expand its number of ships to 440 by 2030, surpassing the U.S. by some way. The Pentagon’s current goal is to have 350 ships and submarines by 2045.
“It is no secret that the People’s Republic of China seeks to upend our dominance on the oceans across the globe,” Del Toro explained to the audience at the Press Club, adding, “[t]hey got a larger fleet now so they’re deploying that fleet globally.”
WATCH:
The US Secretary of the Navy recently admitted that one Chinese shipyard has more shipbuilding capacity than the entire US Navy combined. pic.twitter.com/wh8if6mC2u
— Balaji (@balajis) July 10, 2023