News Analysis The China-watching community has been going through a bit of a freak-out over the U.S. Defense Department’s (DoD) latest report on the Chinese military. In particular, the report—an annual, congressionally mandated publication—states that China now possesses the “largest” navy in the world. In a nutshell, the DoD report asserts that “The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has numerically the largest navy in the world with an overall battle force of approximately 355 ships and submarines, including approximately more than 145 major surface combatants.” Moreover, the PLAN is expected to grow to 420 by 2025, and 460 ships by 2030. In comparison, the U.S. Navy (USN) operates just 305 ships of all types. It may seem like the PLAN already has a huge advantage over the USN, and that it will only grow wider over the next decades. Simple numbers, however, still require a lot of unpacking. Yes, China …