The number of people PLAN can land is to much depending on the scenario to be given exact. If we take Taiwan as an example, the main problem is the number of defenders their weapons, will the invasion fleet be met by air attacks when our on the sea already, how many hostile naval vessels will be in the area?
For a trip to India the problem of resupply is added, the troops will have to eat and drink during the journey, and the ships will have to be refuelled. Add this to the problems stated above and you have the main problems PLAN would face.
For a first wave, actually assaulting the beaches, PLAN has a quite limited capability, because of its lack of ships able to protect and support the landings, not its lack of landing tonnage. In the waves following up, when some kind of a beachead has already been established, China would be able to land much more soldiers and equipment in each wave. Here civilan ships could also be used with success.
Making a surprise attack would mean that they were not (as much) hampered by the lack of fire support and protection, but the preparations for such a attack would probably not be possible to hide for the intelligence service of the intended target.
