Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning
David Tweed and Adrian Leung, Bloomberg: China Is Making a Bold Military Power Play
As lawmakers meet this week to cement Xi Jinping’s power at home, China’s president is also looking to boost his country’s military might abroad. He’s overhauled China’s military to challenge U.S. supremacy in the Indo-Pacific, most visibly with a plan to put half-a-dozen aircraft carriers in the world’s oceans. Still, Xi has a problem: He needs bases around the world to refuel and repair his global fleet. So far, China only has one overseas military base, compared with dozens for the U.S., which also has hundreds of smaller installations.
In recent years China has stepped up efforts to challenge the U.S.’s military presence in the South China Sea, developing missiles to deter American warships and reclaiming land to build bases on the disputed Spratly Islands. It also started sending submarines and frigates into the Indian Ocean, opened its first overseas base in Djibouti and invested in ports around the region that could one day be used for military purposes. That has set off alarm bells among some countries in the region, leading to closer security cooperation between the U.S., Australia, India and Japan. But China says there’s nothing to worry about. It says the base is aimed at deterring piracy in a key Middle East shipping lane for oil tankers, while the ports are part of Xi’s Belt-and-Road infrastructure push that spans three continents. China says it wants prosperity for all–not global hegemony.
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WNU Editor: From building bases in the South China Sea .... to deploying military assets around the Indian ocean. You have to wonder what region will the Chinese focus next.
