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| Type 054A Frigate (Wiki Info) Click Picture to enlarge |
By Kailash Prasad
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) derives much of its legitimacy from ensuring stellar economic growth. Such growth is, of course, resource intensive, and those who consider the CCP’s brand of stability a virtue would err in discounting the role secure energy supply lines have to play in keeping the political status quo. This is true now more than ever, as Beijing’s quest for oil, metal and minerals takes it far from its own shores.
As China develops complex economic and strategic interests in Africa and the Middle East, what hinders freedom of navigation through the Indian Ocean and much of the Pacific will concern Beijing mightily. However, the discomfort with sharing maritime security responsibilities closer to home is unsurprising. Considering the relative strength of those patrolling the waters (mainly Japan and the U.S.) the fear is that in times of crisis, access to critical Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC) could be blocked. Or worse, Beijing might be forced to make a compromise not in keeping with its long held logic of sovereignty over a region that extends far beyond what international law would seem to permit.
In addition, the combined weight of 21 of the world’s biggest navies is, by some measures, 6.75 million tons. Remove the U.S. Navy and that leaves the global fleet 46 percent lighter at about 3.63 million tons, b(y) some estimates. Though not the most accurate gauge of naval prowess, the skewered weight distribution, combined with the U.S. Navy’s pound for pound superiority, surely can’t bode well for a rising power wary of the status quo.
Read the full story at The Diplomat