– China Daily – The 35th fleet of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy on Tuesday left the port city of Zhoushan in East China’s Zhejiang province for the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia to escort civilian ships.

– Naval News – China’s second amphibious assault ship, a Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) known as Type 075, was launched in Shanghai today by Hudong Zhonghua shipyard.

– National Interest – Beijing’s strategists are well aware that the next maritime contest will likely be decided under the waves and sea mines will likely play a starring role. Once again, these strategists are looking to Russian doctrine for the answers.

– South China Morning Post – China and Vietnam have both been building up paramilitary forces and fishing fleets to stake claims in the disputed South China Sea, according to observers, who warn that the neighbours risk further clashes there after the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat last week.

– Global Times – A Chinese naval flotilla led by an aircraft carrier reportedly sailed through the Miyako Strait and headed toward the Pacific Ocean, prompting Chinese military experts to say on Sunday that the fleet demonstrated success in novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic control work.

– Global Times – The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) reportedly held military drills featuring warplanes near the island of Taiwan on Friday, and such drills, having taken place at least four times since the traditional Spring Festival holiday in January, have become regular and are now a part of military struggle preparations against the island.

– Defense News – China’s armed forces will continue their efforts to project military power outside the country’s region through 2030, according to a new analysis of its logistics capabilities.

– Breaking Defense – China is operating the only aircraft carrier in the Western Pacific as the COVID crisis continues to ravage the USS Theodore Roosevelt in Guam, and the USS Ronald Reagan remains pierside in Japan.

– National Interest – On March 30 a destroyer from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force collided with a Chinese fishing boat on the high seas in the East China Sea. Details remain sketchy, but the collision came on the heels of a similar collision between a Taiwan Coast Guard vessel and a mainland fishing boat. What is Beijing thinking?

– War Zone – The blaze struck while the ship was tied up to the pier at Hudong–Zhonghua Shipbuilding in Shanghai.

– USNI News – Last week’s collision between a Chinese Coast Guard vessel and a Vietnamese fishing boat near the Paracel Islands exposes Beijing’s “charm” and “coercion” strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic, regional experts say.

– South China Morning Post – Chinese engineers have modified an old fighter jet to create a training aircraft for pilots who will serve on the country’s newest aircraft carrier – the Type 002 – which is currently in development.

– South China Morning Post – China is making up for time lost during the coronavirus outbreak by resuming preparations to test its largest amphibious aeroplane, which will be able to cover all of the South China Sea.

– National Interest – Regaining every inch of ground once ruled by imperial China is central to the dream President Xi Jinping exhorts Chinese to embrace. Miss an opportunity and China’s dream might never come true. And where would that leave Chinese Communist rulers, who already face a sullen populace? Is now the time Beijing may decide to strike—thanks to COVID-19?

– Global Times – Chinese military experts on Tuesday suggested the use of non-lethal electromagnetic weapons, including low-energy laser devices, in expelling US warships that have been repeatedly intruding into the South China Sea in the past week.

– Congressional Research Service – Latest report as of March 18, 2020.

– War on the Rocks – China’s Spratly Island outposts’ offer Beijing decisive information superiority against any challenger in the South China Sea. Their primary purpose is not military power projection and the deployment of weapons, but information power. The Chinese bases’ main contribution is to facilitate substantial command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnais­sance capabilities in the South China Sea.

– National Interest – The robot submarine (and unmanned surface ship) era is now nearly upon us. Chinese naval strategist have stated explicitly that they intend to circumvent their long-recognized weakness in submarine warfare by cultivating undersea AI and by developing highly capable UUVs. America should take notice.

– Global Times – The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Tuesday expelled a US warship that trespassed into Chinese territorial waters in the Xisha Islands of the South China Sea, while experts said Wednesday that recent US naval activities in the South China Sea are a sign that the US is losing control in the region and wants to flex its muscles to gain influence in the region.

– Global Times – China is reportedly set to launch its second Type 075 amphibious assault ship soon following the launch of the first one in September, leading analysts to say that China has grasped related shipbuilding technologies. The development of aircraft to be used on the ships is also progressing smoothly, they said.

– National Defense – The United States has been the world’s leading maritime power for decades. However, the U.S. Navy could find itself in China’s wake if current trends continue, analysts say.

– National Interest – Moscow has transferred more than five hundred aircraft—large military transports, early warning aircraft, refueling aircraft, attack jets, and fighter interceptors—to Beijing since 1990.

– Global Times – A far sea joint training fleet of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy returned to base after sailing 14,000 nautical miles and crossing the International Date Line deep into the Pacific Ocean for the first time, a move that challenges US hegemony in the open waters and will become increasingly frequent in the future.

– Global Times – Two recently commissioned warships of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy are now ready to do batte after passing an all-subject training examination, the Navy announced on Wednesday, as experts said the service has done well in its sailor training program while receiving more and more warships.

– CIMSEC – China is modernizing every element of its military…With this new capability, China constantly intimidates its neighbors through its increasingly aggressive maritime behavior.