The job of commanding a nuclear submarine should go to smart and well-qualified officers. Chinese submarine officers — except for engineers — tend to come from candidates with the lowest college entrance test scores, according to a US analyst. "Life in the PLAN submarine service is difficult," Christopher Sharman, director of the China Maritime Studies Institute, told Business Insider. By stressing Chinese submarine commanders, such as confronting them with multiple or unexpected challenges, they could be goaded into making a mistake. On the other hand, a Chinese submarine captain will have had years of experience and additional training before assuming command.

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Persons: Roderick Lee, Lee, they've, George McClellan, —, George Patton, Christopher Sharman, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Liberation Army Navy, PLAN, Business, Gaokao, PLA, People's, Army, PLAN Engineering University, China Maritime Studies, US Naval War, Submarine Academy, China Daily, Reuters, China's, Military Medical University, China Sea, China Maritime Studies Institute, Defense, Foreign Policy, Rutgers Univ, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Japan, Taiwan, West, China, Russia, South China, Chinese, Forbes