Fyi. Why can't China see that it's actions are the ones causing instability in the world?
China’s influence is growing so fast that two of the world’s biggest militaries are teaming up to block it
ReutersA Chinese Naval submarine docks at the Ngong Shuen Chau Naval Base in Hong Kong.
China's
drive to expand its influence throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans
has alarmed the rest of Asia and caused countries in the region try
their best to counter Beijing's rise.
India,
in particular, is wary of China's apparent desire to expand its role
and become a dominant naval player in the Indian Ocean.
This
concern over its own backyard has led New Delhi to join the US, two of
the world's largest militaries, and ink a military-cooperation agreement
that would provide India with sensitive US military technology.
According to
a statement from the US Defense Department, the deal "agreed to
expedite discussions to take forward cooperation on jet engines,
aircraft carrier design and construction, and other areas."
India hopes to complete twoindigenous carriers with
US aid within the next decade, although one of those carriers has yet
to progress out of the planning stage. This aid will help to quicken the
pace of construction as well as contribute to the utility of future
aircraft carriers within India's navy.
In addition, one of the key carrier technologies India is interested in is General Atomics' Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS). EMALS works in concert with catapult assisted takeoff but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) systems, which are used aboard US Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, the most advanced carriers currently in the US fleet.
This
technology would allow Indian vessels to launch aircraft at a faster
rate and with improved ease, compared to previous models. An EMALS and
CATOBAR system would also allow Indian carriers to launch a range of
heavy fighters and surveillance planes.
This
willingness to partner with India showcases the unease over China's
rise and the consequent US push to create a coalition to check Beijing's
expanding influence.
ReutersIndia's
Indigenous Aircraft Carrier P-71 "Vikrant", built for the Indian Navy,
leaves Cochin Shipyard after its launch in the southern Indian city of
Kochi on August 12, 2013.
China
has consistently increased military spending year over year. In 2014,
the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimatedBeijing spent $216 billion on its military compared to $610 billion for the US and $50 billion for India.
Aside from military spending, Beijing has been steadily investing in
port installations in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.
These ports have allowed for Chinese merchant vessels, in addition to
submarines and warships, to have safe harborthroughout the entirety of the Indian Ocean.
China has raised Indian
suspicions by docking
submarines at the port of Colombo in nearby Sri Lanka, and there is
concern that Beijing, in the words of Indian General Deepak Kapoor, is
trying to construct a "string of pearls" through the Indian Ocean in order to establish naval and commercial superiority on India's strategic turf.
In
addition to the naval bases, China has raised concern within India by
further expanding its maritime powers with the development of
aircraft-carrier battle groups.
Currently, China has
the largest aircraft carrier in Asia in the Liaoning, a 302-meter
former Soviet vessel, which is capable of carrying 50 aircraft or
helicopters. Although the carrier's size is daunting, the Liaoning is an
older vessel that's prone to mechanical problems. It's more of a test carrier than an actual tool for Chinese force projection.
Mike Nudelman/Business Insider
China is hoping to rectify that problem with an indigenously
produced carrier that Beijing hopes will be ready by the 2020s.
Currently, the carrier is still in the development stage and is not yet
under construction.
India has similar carrier-related problems to China. Although it has three vessels, the Viraat is set to beretired next year and
the Vikrant, though set to premier in 2018 or 2019, is years behind in
delays and cost overruns. That leaves only the Vikramaditya operational —
although, like the Liaoning, it's a repurposed Soviet carrier built in
the early 1980s that suffers from frequent mechanical problems.
However, with US aid, India should have a new carrier operational within 10 to 12 years.
Further
afield, China has also pushed its territorial claims in the South China
Sea. Although India does not directly border the sea, New Delhi retains
interest in the region for both commercial shipping as well as oil
exploration. Beijing's aggressive claims to the region disrupt both of
these interests while playing into the US' interest of forming a loose
international coalition as part of its Pacific Pivot.
"I
think what the U.S. is doing if you look carefully with the defense
guidelines with Japan, Vietnam and elsewhere, is we're putting together a
loose coalition of allies and security partners that includes India,
Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and so on," Atlantic Council senior
fellow Robert Manning told the Washington Times. "What we're doing in India is kind of a piece of that counterbalancing strategy."
So far, China has constructed over 1.5 square miles of artificial islands on top of reefs in the South China Sea.According to
Reuters, Beijing has completed advanced stages of construction for six
different island reefs throughout the sea with construction starting on a
seventh.
The
expansion of Chinese construction in the South China Sea is kicking off
a series of territorial disputes with Beijing's neighbors in the south,
all of whom also have competing maritime claims to the reefs and
islands: Taiwan, Malaysia,
Vietnam, and the Philippines all have military bases within the South
China Sea on islands that those countries control.
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