If might be entirely logical for the Navy to stop making a big splash about the commissioning of all of it's major combatants. Previously, one could argue that China needed to make big news about such things because it needed to show other countries that it was modernizing its navy, and so should be taken seriously. That it deserved a seat at the table so to speak. And the news also served as good PR/feel good fodder so that Xi/CCP could brandish their nationalist credentials with photos of the latest high tech destroyer - making China great again.
Today is different. China doesn't feel technologically inferior. Xi is emperor for life. And China has a growing Tier 1 Navy that people take seriously. That being the case, chest thumping might become counterproductive. The sheer scale of China's build out could easily be spun into a new 'red threat' narrative. And the last thing China wants to do is provoke a systematic response. Far better to have your rivals asleep at the wheel. So eliminating press announcements about the commissioning of yet more destroyers seems a good way to begin downplaying what is going on. Of course enthusiasts and spies will always know what is going on, but it is short term obsessed politicians that control naval funding in China's rivals, so better to let them and the main stream media think about other things. Out of sight and out of mind now helps China more than pictures of destroyers being commissioned.
The strategy that has been implemented (whether by design or not) has been very clever. Spend two decades quietly building up massive industrial capacity whilst competitors industrial capacity atrophies. Rapidly bring your top of the line vessels to the highest modern levels through R&D/espionage/innovation/rapid cycling of vessel classes, catching your rivals off guard with the speed of your technological advancement. Then flick a switch and bring that industrial capacity to bear by mass producing world class combatants, leaving rivals wondering what just happened/in denial. And if you are lucky, by the time they get their act together and start trying to counter you, you are so far ahead that it might even dissuade them from trying because it would be obvious how pointless it would be to try and compete. When was the last time any country in the world was simultaneously fabricating more than 8(?) top of the line destroyers? WW2? China's build out is simply staggering. And if they keep it up, who can complete? Who has the industrial base and resources?
If the above logic is correct, China may downplay its naval strength for a few years now. Of course they can't hide it. But they will probably not want to flaunt it either, no point encouraging competition. Until one day, we will wake up in a world in which their overwhelming naval power is an accepted fact. And at that point they will begin to flaunt it. Making sure that rival politicians see the futility of trying to enter into an arms race. The sheer scale of their might acting as a deterrent.
