deployment of the PLA Navy ships in the - Information Resource ...

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Energy Security. Another important
motivation behind the decision to deploy a Chinese
Naval force off Somalia is the fact that this involves the
African continent, where Beijing has substantial
economic investments. As a leading importer of crude
oil, China depends on Africa for 33 per cent of its oil
needs, which is projected to go up to 40 per cent by
2020. It has granted extensive debt packages to Africa
on a no strings attached basis and its bilateral trade
with the continent is expected to touch US $100 billion
by 2010. Suffice it to say that China’s stakes and
advantages in Africa are high. China also depends on
Saudi Arabia for its crude oil imports and has huge
markets in Europe. Chinese merchant ships carrying
crude would have to necessarily frequent the waters
off the Somali coast and thus, their protection
requirements have pushed the Chinese government
to deploy warships in the region.
Historical Importance. The Chinese
deployment at this juncture also holds historical
significance for the Chinese people, whose
nationalism is on the rise. This is only the third Chinese
deployment into the Indian Ocean in more than six
centuries. From 1405 to 1433, emperor Yongle and
his successor, emperor Hingxi, sent an armada under
the eunuch Admiral Zheng He on seven voyages into
the Indian Ocean as far as Mombasa, Mecca and
Mogadishu, with multiple stops at Aden. Admiral
Zheng He proclaimed the power and prestige of the
new Ming dynasty, fostered tributary relations with
kingdoms around the ocean, nurtured existing trade
links, and, as a last resort used force against enemies.
But, subsequently, China turned inwards and suffered
a “century of humiliation” beginning in 1840, when it
was invaded and partially colonised. In recent times,
it was only in 2002, that the PLA Navy send the Luhu
class guided missile destroyer Qingdao and
composite supply ship Taicang on a global
circumnavigation trip for the first time, and began
taking part in bilateral Naval exercises.
Lead Role in Maintaining World Order.
The need to demonstrate China's active attitude in
maintaining the world's peace and safety, as well as
its capacity to accomplish diversified military missions,
to deal with multiple threats to national security, is yet
another driver for the current deployment of ships.
With the major Navies of the world including Russia,
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India, and the first-ever joint European Union Naval
operation away from Europe, operating in the Gulf
of Aden, the PLA Navy's absence would have been
conspicuous, especially since the Peoples Republic of
China (PRC) occupies a permanent seat in the United
Nations Security Council, which in no fewer than four
resolutions last year, had called upon states interested
in the security of maritime activities to take active part
in the fight against piracy on the high seas off the coast
of Somalia.
CHINA’S EMERGENCE AS A WORLD POWER
China’s Search for Power
Rise in China’s National Power. The growth
in China's overall national power, including its military
capabilities, and how China's leaders would employ
this power would have far reaching implications for
India. India would be affected, one way or the other,
by Beijing's changing economic and military
capabilities, its trade and defense policies, its approach
toward resolution of bilateral disputes, and how it
would use its power as it grows stronger. Even the
United States recognises that following Soviet
disintegration, and with Japanese power contained
within the U.S.-Japan alliance framework, China
would be its leading challenger, its key concern, and
the alternative centre of power and influence in the
strategically vital Indian Ocean Region.
Chinese Military Doctrine. From a national
security perspective, China is preparing to meet three
key challenges. In an immediate sense, it is building a
military force structure that would enable it to use
force, if necessary, to pursue its sovereignty and
territorial claims on Taiwan, the South China Sea
islands, and, if necessary, elsewhere - for example
against India, Vietnam, and Japan. Second, its military
power must provide it with adequate deterrence
against the United States. Finally, in the longer run its
power must ensure that China would be an integral
part of a new security structure in Asia and the Pacific.
China’s current doctrine envisages preparation
to face two potential scenarios as follows: -
• Border wars, territorial conflicts, and
localised partial wars of a limited character
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