The shock troops of Beijing’s maritime empire-building are far more humble than the fleet of modern warships that paraded off Qingdao on Tuesday to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy. Even as President Xi Jinping was reviewing a sail-past of his new generation of guided missile destroyers and other modern warships, his equally potent small-boat navy was at work off the Philippines. As I will describe, the fact that views of Xi’s navy were obscured by thick fog was more than symbolic and entirely appropriate.
