How much operational experience did the PLAN have in 2020?

How should the PLAN's limited modern combat experience affect judgments of its operational ability?

Its recent naval combat experience was limited and its thinking drew heavily on Russian doctrine, but China's earlier conflicts meant the force should not be dismissed as wholly untested.

This 2020 exchange cautions against treating limited recent warfighting experience as proof that the PLAN lacked operational ability. Chinese naval thinking drew heavily on Russian concepts and doctrine. China had also fought Vietnam and other conflicts, although those experiences did not amount to a modern peer naval war. Its capability remained uncertain, but lack of recent naval combat alone was insufficient reason to dismiss the force.