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China's rise to economic superpower status has not been checked by the financial crisis. However, to guarantee social stability and regime survival China requires high economic growth, which depends upon natural resource imports, foreign investment, and foreign know-how. Securing this inflow has therefore become a strategic priority. What role does naval power, as reflected in China's unprecedented maritime build-up, play for this, and for China's changing power status? How does it affect the region's balance of power, and pose new challenges to the USA? Control over its EEZ and Sea Lines of Communication is merely the basic objective of China's naval strategy. Challenging American supremacy in Asia remains the ultimate goal. The recently discovered submarine base at Hainan ignited fears in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, India, and Australia. China's military cooperation with Pakistan, its role towards North Korea, plus the stillunresolved Taiwan conflict make China a decisive factor in global maritime security studies. How will the impending power shift affect the region? This paper aims at describing methods for quantifying and evaluating China's naval power - its origins, goals, and comparative limitations - and its complex interdependence with other aspects of state power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]