It has to find a way to get out of Chinese coastal waters with no fewer than four nations’ land-based air waiting for it, not to mention US carrier-based air.
The Chinese have a major base problem, which is why they have never been a successful maritime nation.
That’s why they are effectively buying Africa as fast as they can.
Perhaps. But once upon a time their fleets sailed as far as what would some day be called the Cape of Good Hope. Chinese bureaucracy feared the cultural impacts of strange peoples and goods, and banned shipbuilding.
The baoshan treasure ships fell into disuse and were ultimate forgotten. To this day the elimination of this incipient world trade remains bureaucracy's most stunning achievement.