Chinese navy's biggest destroyer leads Yellow Sea combat drills

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The Chinese navy's biggest destroyer led three corvettes in a combined services exercise in the Yellow Sea, a novel "high-low mix" drill designed to simulate military clashes with weaker regional counterparts, according to analysts.

The Lhasa, a Type 055 stealth-guided missile destroyer and the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) largest and most modern warship of its kind, recently completed a series of assessment drills with three Type 056A corvettes in the Yellow Sea, according to the official broadcaster CCTV.

According to the agency, they conducted three days of air defense, anti-ship, and anti-submarine drills. Other surface vessels, submarines, early-warning planes, and helicopters also participated in the exercise to mimic battle situations.

The PLA Navy's second Type 055 destroyer, the Lhasa, was deemed battle-ready in January. With a displacement of 12,000 tonnes, it is considered the world's second most powerful destroyer behind the USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000).

Meanwhile, the 1,440-tonne Type 056A corvette is an anti-submarine warfare derivative of Type 056.

The drills were designed to evaluate the capabilities of several types of warships in a difficult electromagnetic environment, according to CCTV.

Zhou Chenming, a researcher from the Yuan Wang military science and technology think tank, explained that “joint exercises between the Type 055 and Type 056A could be very complicated and challenging because of the involvement of many new technologies and tactics in modern naval combat."

Between 2017 and 2020, China launched eight Type 055 destroyers, as well as around 70 Type 056 and 056A vessels.

The first Type 055 entered service just last year, while the first anti-submarine corvette, a light frigate, was commissioned in 2014. Both ships are innovative in design and include cutting-edge technology such as electronic warfare systems.

The high-low mix practice in the Yellow Sea, which pitted a massive and modern vessel against a comparatively inferior and smaller one, might have been designed to replicate confrontations with less powerful navies, according to a Taiwan-based expert.

Lu Li-shih, a former instructor at Taiwan’s Naval Academy in Kaohsiung said, “It’s interesting that the training group put the largest destroyer and small corvettes together, and I believe the PLA has some specific purpose [behind it],” adding “I suspect the PLA is trying to use the Type 056A to train the Type 055 in potential confrontations with other small counterparts in the East and South China seas, including Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines, which have small warships similar to the Chinese corvettes.”

The Type 056 is designed for mid-range green-water missions and coastal responsibilities, rather than blue-water or high seas combat operations.

However, Macau-based military analyst Antony Wong Tong highlighted that the PLA Navy has been deploying the tiny ships to participate in high seas training with the backing of a massive supply ship since last summer to strengthen ocean battle preparedness.

“The Type 056 is too small and can’t sail too far because of its limited fuel, but the three Type 056A corvettes have been able to sail over 6,700 nautical miles under the help of a Type 903 supply ship,” he said.

The maneuvers in the Yellow Sea came only days after China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, led a larger-than-usual strike group to train in the western Pacific, amid escalating tensions over Taiwan, particularly with the United States and Japan.

Last week, fighter planes and helicopters aboard the Liaoning performed more than 100 take-offs and landings near Okinawa, according to the Japanese Ministry of Defense.

Military drills have been a common approach for China to display might and commitment whenever tensions have risen over Taiwan.

Beijing has condemned a visit to Taiwan by US senators last month as "provocative", as well as former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's backing for Taipei.