The book is a culmination of research into various facets related to the PLA Navy over the last four years.Individual chapters covering these above themes have been written by expanding, updating, editing and restructuring the contents of various articles. These have broadly been arranged as per the sequence of the author's study, starting with a maritime overview and organization; followed by those on the three arms of the PLA Navy. The latter half of the book comprises two chapters on the operational evaluation of the rising PLA naval capabilities and its local and regional implications, particularly those of relevance to the Indian Ocean Region.