Chinese naval vessels are increasingly operating father and farther away from their home waters.
This trend from brown to blue-water operations continued to mature over the next several decades and in May 2015, China issued a white paper entitled, China’s Military Strategy. The paper outlined the strategy of “active defense,” which is essentially an amalgamation of the concepts of offshore defense and open seas protection. The strategy maintains, “The traditional mentality that control of the land is more important than control of the sea must be abandoned, and great importance has to be attached to managing the seas and oceans and protecting maritime rights and interests.” The ideas articulated in this strategy have already begun to crystallize; China’s ships have progressively been operating away from their coasts over the years and they are going to continue to operate even further and for longer periods.
However, in order to prove its mettle, China has to do more than just operate far from home; they must demonstrate significant operational capability. The Pentagon’s 2015 report on China’ s Military Power noted, “Whereas ‘near seas’ defense remains the PLA Navy’s primary focus, China’s gradual shift to the ‘far seas’ has necessitated that its Navy support operational tasks outside the first island chain with multi-mission, long-range, sustainable naval platforms with robust self-defense capabilities.” China has set out to do exactly that. Their naval fleet has provided an escort for over 6,000 commercial ships; their hospital ship Peace Ark has been frequently dispatched to provide healthcare to countries in need; and their warships are increasingly relied upon for real-world missions from counter-piracy to evacuations of Chinese citizens.
China, Cuba Seek Economic and Defense Cooperation
Two high-ranking Chinese officials made separate visits to Cuba this month.
June 27, 2015
While the two countries have had diplomatic ties since 1960, by China’s own admission “there were little substantive contacts between China and Cuba during the period of Cold War.” China and Cuba began increasing their interactions, particularly high-level visits, in the 1990s. Then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin went to Cuba in 1993 and 2001; his successor, Hu Jintao, visited in 2004. Fidel Castro, who served as Cuba’s president from 1976-2008 (and as prime minister from 1959-1976) visited China in 1995 and 2003. His brother Raul, who succeeded Fidel as president, made his own trip to China in 2012. Current Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Cuba in July 2014, part of a broader tour of Latin America.
DYI Comments: Why the thaw for U.S. and Cuban relations? The biggest reason is China. The U.S. is keeping China from expanding its presence in the Western Hemisphere. So far no naval vessels have ported in Cuba or any other Western Hemisphere. As they expand their naval presence China will bump heads with the U.S. Monroe Doctrine.
The Monroe Doctrine was a U.S. foreign policy regarding domination of the Americas in 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention.
As China expands their navy look for tensions to build especially when China begins to patrol in the Atlantic.
DYI
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