China has added to its rapidly growing sea power by commissioning a new navy destroyer to commemorate the centennial of the ruling communist party. In an official statement released on Friday, the Kaifeng, the fourth Type 052D destroyer commissioned this year, was revealed for the first time. The superpower’s shipbuilding industry has ‘rapidly developed,’ resulting in a sharp increase in the number of ships being built.
The Kaifeng held a combat exercise in an undisclosed body of water as part of its centennial celebrations.
The drills were part of the PLA Navy’s North Sea Fleet’s commitment to ‘study the Party spirit’ and ‘strengthen the military and win battles.’
Following the Suzhou, Huinan and Nanning, the Kaifeng is the fourth Type 052D to enter PLA service this year.
In 2021, the Lhasa and Dalian destroyers, an amphibious assault ship as well as a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, the Changzeng 18, will be commissioned. The announcement of the PLA’s growing naval capabilities is part of China’s rulers’ increasingly militaristic direction, as evidenced by President Xi Jinping’s speech at the CCP’s centennial on July 1.
‘The Chinese people will never allow foreign forces to bully, oppress or enslave us,’ he informed 70,000 supporters squeezed inside Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. ‘Whoever nurses delusions of doing that will crack their heads and spill blood on the great wall of steel built from the flesh and blood of 1.4 billion Chinese people,’ he continued.
President Xi’s vehement rhetoric comes amid a crackdown on dissidents in Hong Kong and a more aggressive approach to resolving what he refers to as the ‘Taiwan question.’
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