.jpg) |
| PLAN Type 903 replenishment ship (File Photo) |
October 31, 2014: China has made it clear that it wants to control the South China Sea as if it were Chinese territory. China has enacted laws to that effect. This is all part of an effort to justify efforts to use Chinese warships to dominate essential sea lanes, especially the one through the Indian Ocean that China requires for moving imports and exports. Controlling the South China Sea is the first step but the Chinese Navy wants to establish naval bases overseas as well. The government will not allow this. Instead the Chinese are establishing commercial relations with foreign countries along these sea routes, often by building new ports or refurbishing existing ones. This is done as commercial ventures and the resulting modern ports are operated by Chinese companies to the benefit and profit of the host country. It is understood that the host country will allow Chinese warships to use these ports for resupply and to give the crews some shore time.
China has already established a number of port relationships in the Indian Ocean that make it possible for them to support increased navy operations. All these ports are commercial operations, where Chinese firms have upgraded or built commercial ports and run them. So far this “string of pearls” includes Bangladesh (Chittagong), Burma (Sittwe and Coco Island), Sri Lanka (Hambantota), Pakistan (Gwadar), and Tanzania (Bagamoyo). The Indian Ocean has become a major trade route for China and this makes the security of this route a major concern. This, however, upsets India a great deal because of active claims China has on India (especially along the Tibet border). There’s not much India can do about the String of Pearls, as China has become a major economic force in the Indian Ocean and offers all the nations hosting a “pearl” very attractive economic incentives to accept Chinese port building and management efforts. The fact that it is difficult for other countries to protest these “pearls” because they are not officially naval bases is as the Chinese planned it.
Read the full story at StrategyPage