Non-Strategic Factors In Chinese Naval Shipbuilding

Naval analysts often hold that maritime strategy determines the course of a country's naval shipbuilding. This thesis argues that priorities and patterns of naval shipbuilding in the People's Republic of China cannot be fully explained through the lens of maritime strategy alone. First, what possible non-strategic factors may affect naval shipbuilding are determined through case studies of Imperial Germany and Imperial Japan, both of which pursued similar strategies to Communist China and whose navies followed similar courses of development. Second, the development of the People's Liberation Army-Navy is examined from its beginning to the modern day and similar or unique non-strategic factors are evaluated. Lastly, the thesis infers broader lessons about naval development from comparative analysis of each of the countries.