Could China's submarine fleet recreate an Atlantic-style convoy battle?

Did China have enough submarines to threaten Australian and Indian sea lanes in a Second World War-style convoy campaign?

Not at the time of the talk; most Chinese boats were relatively noisy conventional submarines, limiting their ability to sustain that kind of campaign.

The escort discussion is applied to a modern convoy-war scenario. Chinese submarine hull numbers matter, yet the force's composition and acoustic limitations controlled this 2021 assessment. Most were conventional SSKs judged too noisy to sustain a campaign comparable with the Second World War Atlantic battle. Submarine quality and detectability matter alongside raw hull totals.