Stronger Chinese Navy Worries Neighbors and US

Here, a destroyer in the South China Sea Fleet of China's navy fires a missile...

China and the US seem to be on a collision course in the Pacific. Beijing is significantly bolstering its navy, and Washington is shifting its military focus to Asia-Pacific Region. Many fear it could alter the balance of power in a region rich in oil and crucial for global trade.

The best view of China’s new flagship, which inspires fear in its enemies, could recently be had from a window on the fourth floor of an IKEA store in Dalian, a port city in northeastern China. Here, someone had scratched out a viewing hole in the opaque film masking the window, providing a view of the pier across the way — and of the Varyag.

This ship, whose keel was originally built by the Soviets, is now being put into service by the China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy. Shipyard employees spent years working on the colossal ship, drilling and welding. Then the Varyagdisappeared a total of 10 times for sea trials, leaving geostrategists and naval experts from Tokyo to Washington endlessly speculating about where the ship might be at any given moment and with what kinds of weapons and airplanes China would decide to outfit it.

Since late August, the ship has once again been docked in Dalian. On the morning of September 2, observers noticed a team of painters at work and, by the afternoon of the next day, the result of their work could be seen: an enormous number “16” emblazoned on the gray hull of the ship. This, it seems, will be the identification number of the first aircraft carrier put into service by China’s naval forces, a number said to have been chosen in honor of Admiral Liu Huaqing, father of the modern Chinese navy, who was born in 1916.

Right at the start of her trip, in the Cook Islands, Clinton met with representatives from allies, including Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Philippines, as well as ones from Vietnam, America’s former enemy. “The Pacific is big enough for all of us,” Clinton told them. However, some have reasons to doubt that statement because they know the US and its allies have rivals in the region, as well: North Korea and China.

North Korea, under the command of a dictator not yet 30 years old, may appear to be the more dangerous opponent. But China is the weightier one by far, challenging the US not only in industry, trade and outer space, but also in the arena where the world’s major powers have played out their conflicts since as long ago as the 16th century: at sea.

It is difficult to overstate the economic and military importance of the South...

It is difficult to overstate the economic and military importance of the South China Sea, which connects the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. Over half the annual tonnage of all the world’s merchant navies is shipped through adjacent sea routes here, and the region sees a third of the world’s maritime traffic. Eighty percent of China’s crude oil imports pass through here, and the seafloor holds an estimated 130 billion barrels of crude oil and 9.3 trillion cubic meters (328 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas.

“All of the trends, demographic trends, geopolitical trends, economic trends and military trends, are shifting toward the Pacific. So our strategic challenges in the future will largely emanate out of the Pacific region,” said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey when laying out the US’ new defense strategy together with President Barack Obama this January.

Obama, who was born in Hawaii and raised in Indonesia, has declared a strategic “pivot” of US military strategy to the Asia-Pacific region. Indeed, the Pacific is more important to the US’ future than Europe or the NATO territory along the coasts of the Atlantic. Obama traveled to Australia last year to personally announce plans for a new US Marine base there, and his administration has plans for conducting joint maneuvers with Vietnam as well as for setting up ultra-modern equipment in Japan as part of a missile defense system for Asia.

China has been in a growing number of disputes with its neighbors over islands...

The 7th Fleet, established in 1943 and now stationed in Japan and Guam, is already the US Navy’s largest and strongest force, with more than 60 warships and around 40,000 personnel. In the coming years, it will be expanded even further so that, by 2020, some 60 percent of all American warships will be stationed in the Pacific — more than in the Atlantic and also more than in the Persian Gulf, which has been considered the US Navy’s main focus in recent decades.

 

Spiegel has the full article

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