Recruitment and more exercises can only do so much, considering the extent of the growth that the PLAN has seen in warship quantity and more importantly the quantity of high quality/high capability warships.
High ranking, experienced personnel -- aka senior officers, senior NCOs -- is in high demand in most organizations during normal periods by virtue of things becoming more complex in general. Whether it's healthcare, business, industry, government or military.
For the PLAN, whose transformation over the last decade has been astronomical, you have not only the need to have personnel that are able to operate all of your new warships competently and supply your warships and do the staff work competently -- but also to have senior personnel that can understand modern and future ways of warfighting in a way that lets your new, big fleet be used to its maximum potential.
For example, the difference in a navy having 4x high end AAW destroyers (like 052D, 055 pattern) versus having 40x high end AAW destroyers, is not merely just needing the same competent personnel in a "multiple of 10" but also needing additional even more senior personnel that can organize and utilize your 40x high end AAW destroyers in an effective manner on a higher level of warfare (strategic/operational rather than tactical).
For a rapidly growing navy like the PLAN, there is no quick fix to this except for prolonged and sustained recruitment and retention of personnel, with ever growing complexity of exercises, research, staff work and repeat over time.
Eventually the personnel and ship mismatch will even out, but it's also about time -- you can only shorten the time needed to train and gather sufficient experience for a cadre of senior personnel to a given degree. Ultimately you still need to wait.
High ranking, experienced personnel -- aka senior officers, senior NCOs -- is in high demand in most organizations during normal periods by virtue of things becoming more complex in general. Whether it's healthcare, business, industry, government or military.
For the PLAN, whose transformation over the last decade has been astronomical, you have not only the need to have personnel that are able to operate all of your new warships competently and supply your warships and do the staff work competently -- but also to have senior personnel that can understand modern and future ways of warfighting in a way that lets your new, big fleet be used to its maximum potential.
For example, the difference in a navy having 4x high end AAW destroyers (like 052D, 055 pattern) versus having 40x high end AAW destroyers, is not merely just needing the same competent personnel in a "multiple of 10" but also needing additional even more senior personnel that can organize and utilize your 40x high end AAW destroyers in an effective manner on a higher level of warfare (strategic/operational rather than tactical).
For a rapidly growing navy like the PLAN, there is no quick fix to this except for prolonged and sustained recruitment and retention of personnel, with ever growing complexity of exercises, research, staff work and repeat over time.
Eventually the personnel and ship mismatch will even out, but it's also about time -- you can only shorten the time needed to train and gather sufficient experience for a cadre of senior personnel to a given degree. Ultimately you still need to wait.
