The US needs allies to help build a naval coalition if it wants to stand a fighting chance against China's massive fleet, retired admiral says

• The US needs to assemble its own naval coalition, retired US Navy Adm. James Stavridis said.
• This, he said, is necessary if the US wants to match up to China's growing naval fleet.
• Stavridis said the US could bring in its treaty allies like Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines.

The US needs to build a coalition of allies if it hopes to stand a chance against China's fast-growing navy, says retired US Navy Adm. James Stavridis.

"Today, China's fleet of at least 350 warships outnumbers America's of 290," Stavridis, a former NATO commander, wrote in a Bloomberg op-ed on Wednesday.

"Given the global demands on the US fleet and the fact that any combat in the South China Sea would take place in the shadow of the Chinese mainland — in effect, a massive and unsinkable aircraft carrier — the US must pursue a coalition strategy to balance the numbers," he added.

In his op-ed, Stavridis said the US could start by corralling its treaty allies — Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand. The US, Stavridis wrote, could also partner with friendly nations like Singapore, Vietnam, and India.

The coalition could "come together for major maritime exercises in the South China Sea," Stavridis suggested in his op-ed.

China has claimed sovereignty over the hotly contested South China Sea. The country has ignored competing claims by the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam, violating international law.

"The Chinese, when operating in their figurative backyard, pose a formidable naval challenge to the US and its Pacific allies, partners, and friends," Stavridis wrote. "Standing up to them and deterring further aggression is a team sport."

This op-ed isn't the first time Stavridis has offered his assessment of the US's naval capabilities. Back in January, Stavridis told radio host John Catsimatidis in an interview that the US needed to expand its naval forces if it wanted to stand up to China.

"We have a lot more experience, but quantity has a quality on its own. We need to build more warships. We need to think about a US Navy that approaches 350 ships," Stavridis said.

The US Naval Institute said in a report in 2021 that China has the world's largest navy, with over 355 vessels in its fleet. In comparison, the US only has 296 ships, according to a 2021 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Then, in July, leaked US Navy intelligence revealed that China's shipbuilding capacity was 232 times greater than the US's.

The US expects China to grow its fleet to 400 ships by 2025 and 440 ships by 2030, per the Pentagon's 2022 annual report on China's military development.

The growing gap between the US's and China's respective naval fleets underscores the extent to which US shipbuilding capacity has lagged behind China's.

"One of China's largest shipyards has more capacity than all US shipyards combined," David Sacks, fellow for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, told BI last month. "We have to maintain ships as well as, obviously, build new platforms, and we don't have the workers or the facilities to do that."