evidence: China has the world's largest navy — what now? [...] But now, the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is numerically the largest in the world, according to a recently released Pentagon report detailing the massive resources Beijing has poured into backing up its foreign policy ambitions with force. [...] But for now, China's greatest naval strength remains close to home. And the Pentagon report indicates that Beijing's capabilities to carry out coordinated operations diminish with distance, with the PLAN's ability to execute missions beyond the first island chain remaining "modest but growing."