China Likely to be Major Global Naval Power
Two analysts claimed yesterday that China is beefing up its credentials as a maritime force so that it can become a true superpower like the United States.
According to prominent historian Wang Gungwu, with the recent Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road proposals the country is setting up a maritime trading route and asserting claims in the South China Sea.
“People talk about the US rebalancing towards Asia but it is just moving ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific. China is really rebalancing because it recognizes the importance of a balance between being a continental and naval power,” said Professor Wang said.
“I found Professor Wang’s distinction between a maritime power and a continental power ... extremely suggestive and powerful,” said Bilahari Kausikan, ambassador-at-large and policy advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore.
China is likely to succeed in its bid to become a major naval power that underlies its "one belt, one road" policy, according to Kausikan.
“The US is both a continental power and a major — in fact the major — naval power. China too seems trying to be both,” added Kausikan.
China has strengthened its sea power, with many speculating that the power of the PLA Navy is set to overtake that of Japan in 2015.
News of China's new anti-submarine patrol aircraft has been successfully developed publicly reported, the anti-submarine patrol aircraft modified Y-8 transport aircraft made in China as a platform, equipped with a large sea search radar, sonar buoys and a magnetic probe on the machine instrument, such as a variety of exploration potential submarine search equipment, and carry anti-submarine torpedoes, depth bombs and other aviation anti-submarine weapons etc.
