US military can't win in South China Sea: Global Times editorial

The guided-missile destroyer Hohhot (Hull 161) attached to a destroyer flotilla with the navy under the PLA Southern Theater Command steams in waters of the South China Sea during a maritime training exercise in Mid-July, 2019. Photo:China Military.

China knows its navy cannot match the US military but its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) should have the confidence to defeat the US should a conflict occur off the shores of China, says Global Times in its editorial on Sept 18.

The editorial emerged after US Defense Secretary Mark Esper remarked that China's navy is “no match” for that of the US in terms of strength, and that even if the US stopped building new ships, it would take China years "to match our capability on the high seas."