Growth Of Chinese Navy Means U.S. Must Compete For Maritime Supremacy
Posted 06:14 PM ET
China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, symbolizes that nation's growing naval might. View Enlarged Image
U.S. Navy Must Compete for Maritime Supremacy
Writing recently in the Los Angeles Times, Gordon Chang and retired Adm. James Lyons pointed with alarm to China's naval expansion.
That sea power represents the path to national greatness is now axiomatic for the Chinese state and society. China is bolting together a great navy with aplomb, and the United States had better take notice.
Beijing is thinking hard about how to use this new implement to advance national power and purposes. This poses a challenge of the first order. America and its allies must brace themselves for a permanent Chinese presence in maritime Asia — or beyond.
Their first step: jettison the decades-old assumption that American sea power is an unchallengeable arbiter of Asian affairs. No longer does the U.S. Navy rule the Asian seas by virtual birthright. Our navy must compete for what it has long taken for granted.
Sure, that means rebuilding the material component of sea power, manifest in ships, weaponry and bases. Gadgetry obsesses Western pundits. But the service must also think. It must relearn the habits of mind needed to compete and win.
Rediscovering musty old books from America's seagoing past is a good place to start rebuilding its strategic literacy. Reacquainting itself with its own traditions can help the U.S. Navy navigate today's discomfiting new normal.
Beijing views seaborne might as a prerequisite for its ascent to great power. At the Chinese Communist Party congress late last year, outgoing President Hu Jintao vowed to "build China into a maritime power." Hu's words marked the first time officialdom had used such a high-profile public forum to promote China's seafaring project.
His directive, since reaffirmed by successor Xi Jinping, signifies a radical break with China's historic preoccupation with continental affairs.
The People's Liberation Army Navy is way ahead of Hu's and Xi's policy pronouncements. The fleet is already making its presence felt across the region.
It recently commissioned its first aircraft carrier, dubbed Liaoning. It has mounted shows of force in the farthest reaches of the South China Sea, putting steel behind Beijing's territorial claims. And on and on. The PLA Navy is clearly a service on the make.
History's Lessons
But the story doesn't end there. Sea power is about more than navies. It also incorporates land-based missiles and aircraft capable of striking at sea.
Moreover, nonmilitary law-enforcement agencies have dispatched vessels to confront Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-viewpoint/061713-660277-china-growth-means-us-has-to-compete-to-dominate-the-seas.htm#ixzz2WWjT7s7y
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