The small tonnage of the Type 056 decided its importance wasn't high, as long as it could bypass restrictions, trade could be conducted.
If Boss Qiao himself was willing to commit to refitting his Hamilton-class ship, that 3,250-tonne vessel would be more intimidating than the 1,300 tonne Type 056.
But in the Mediterranean region, no one felt anything amiss!
If the Hamilton-class 'Princess' could do it, why couldn't the Type 056?
As long as that thing isn't equipped with missile systems, it's just a coastguard ship – a couple of those could only scare pirates, and even intimidating smaller Southeast Asian nations would be difficult, let alone the navies of major countries.
In the Mediterranean, any random navy, such as Italy's, would have ships stronger than the Type 056.
China Shipbuilding was still trying multiple approaches; the Type 056 wasn't even their main focus for export models, the Type 052D Destroyer was.
