China's new 054A frigate puts Japan, Taiwan and the US on edge

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NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan — China’s navy has introduced a new guided-missile frigate designed for coastal as well as open-sea attacks after 20 years in the making, according to Chinese state media.

Not quite a technological breakthrough, military analysts say.

But the 054A frigate has advantages that are expected to raise the People’s Liberation Army Navy clout along and beyond the Chinese southeast coasts and in turn fluster nearby Taiwan and Japan – each with concerns about Beijing’s maritime activities – while putting the United States on higher alert, analysts say.

The frigate comparable to the U.S. Navy’s Constellation-class ships can operate in blue waters, meaning open seas far from its own coasts — an asset that its predecessors lacked, said David Silbey, a military historian and associate teaching professor with the Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy.

Can China’s latest air-to-air missile take on its US equivalent? Definitely maybe, experts say.

China’s 054A could do anti-submarine warfare as well due to its helicopter launch features, Silbey added. Helicopters increase a warship’s submarine detection range. The frigates could be produced fast in high numbers, he added.

State media outlets reported that the frigate did a training mission on Aug. 22. Part of a PLA Eastern Theater Command flotilla, it joined other vessels for combat-related training, command coordination tests and emergency responses, state broadcaster CCTV News said.

The 054A frigates will grab attention offshore because they add to an already expanding naval fleet, experts believe.

“Taiwan is concerned about its increased anti-submarine, escort and fleet air defense capabilities around the Taiwan Strait,” said Huang Chung-ting, associate research fellow with the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei.

“Japan will pay attention to its activities in the East China Sea, the Miyako Strait and around the first-island chain,” Huang said, referring to Japan itself as well as other land masses between China and the open Pacific Ocean.

He said Washington would worry about whether the Chinese navy is forming a “large enough modern escort fleet” able to maintain long-term deployment in the open sea.

The frigate could become a “multiplier for bigger units in a vast array of tasks”, said Enrico Cau, an associate researcher at the Taiwan Strategy Research Association think tank.

China sees self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military drills nearby since 2022 — as Washington continues to help arm Taiwan in case of any conflict. Japan, a U.S. treaty ally, contests with China a chain of uninhabited islets and Beijing resents Tokyo’s stance on Taiwan.

Chinese media reports call the 054A, also known as the Jiangkai II, a second Ningde branded ship type after the 056 guided-missile corvette that entered service in 2016. It has little if any unique technology, analysts believe. It even comes with “limited” missile capacity, rendering it “not a particularly powerful ship,” Silbey said.

But it matters because it would bolster the navy’s overall potential, the experts said.

“I think the multirole designation allows it to cover an important gap between smaller ships designed for a limited set of littoral, coastal and short-range missions and bigger ships designed for different tasks in long range missions,” Cau said.