Chinese Naval Expansion Changing Look of Global, East Asian Waters

The Chinese military is seeking to project naval power well beyond the Chinese coast,

from the oil ports of the Middle East to the shipping lanes of the Pacific, where the United States Navy has long reigned as the dominant force, military officials and analysts say.

The Chinese military is seeking to project naval power well beyond the Chinese coast,

from the oil ports of the Middle East to the shipping lanes of the Pacific, where the United States Navy has long reigned as the dominant force, military officials and analysts say.

The Chinese military is seeking to project naval power well beyond the Chinese coast,

from the oil ports of the Middle East to the shipping lanes of the Pacific, where the United States Navy has long reigned as the dominant force, military officials and analysts say.

China calls the new strategy “far sea defense,” and the speed with which it is building long-range capabilities has surprised foreign military officials. [br]

The strategy is a sharp break from the traditional, narrower doctrine of preparing for war over the self-governing island of Taiwan or defending the Chinese coast.

Now, Chinese admirals say they want warships to escort commercial vessels that are crucial to the country’s economy,

from as far as the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca, in Southeast Asia,

and to help secure Chinese interests in the resource-rich South and East China Seas, according to this intriguing article in the New York Times.

In late March, two Chinese warships docked in Abu Dhabi, the first time the modern Chinese Navy made a port visit in the Middle East.

The overall plan reflects China’s growing sense of self-confidence and increasing willingness to assert its interests abroad. [br]

China’s naval ambitions are being felt, too, in recent muscle flexing with the United States:

in March, Chinese officials told senior American officials privately that China would brook no foreign interference in its territorial issues in the South China Sea, said a senior American official involved in China policy.

The naval expansion will NOT make China a serious rival to American naval hegemony in the near future,

and there are few indications that China has aggressive intentions toward the United States or other countries.

But China, now the world’s leading exporter and a giant buyer of oil and other natural resources,

is also no longer content to trust the security of sea lanes to the Americans,

and its definition of its own core interests has expanded along with its economic clout.