In a new phase of China’s reemergence as a naval power, a 3-vessel anti-piracy task force set sail from Hainan for the waters off of the Horn of Africa.* It’s been over 600 years since the eunuch admiral Zheng He began his series of amazing voyages from the Ming Empire through the Indian Ocean. Some historians have argued that the decision by the Ming court to end the expeditions and dismantle the armada created a naval power vacuum in the Indian Ocean which allowed small and aggressive ships from Western Europe to force their way into long-established patterns of trade along the South Asian and African coast.
While China certainly has a stake in keeping the shipping lanes open in the region, there’s also a strong whiff of “let’s test our mettle” to the expedition. PLAN commanders have already suggested that the mission serves to provide combat experience for China’s sailors and marines, and after thirty years of military modernization, there must be a strong temptation in the PLA brass (shared by boys across the world this day after Christmas) to stop dreaming, take the toys out of the box, and let ‘em rip.
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There’s apparently some sort of editorial directive for the foreign media to bring up Zheng He’s name within the first two paragraphs of any article about the mission. So…let me be #944,345.
Having read 1421…I look forward to seeing how China retakes its naval dominance. The problem is that they are playing with the big boys now, and the US outnumbers them on some order of 20-30 times at sea. It is not a game that China wants to get itself into, especially when you listen to the continued political rhetoric from Beijing that speaks of a build up of strength with harmonious actions. The last thing on China’s mind is to take the big guns out of the box and start playing. They stand to gain nothing, and only lose everything. It is lose-lose.
I was annoyed when John Pomfret blogged that it suggested a return to a Zheng He style “blue water” navy. The “blue water” part bugged me because that usually implies force projection surrounding territorial waters. A couple of destroyers joining an international Africa patrol just doesn’t cut that, and I think it’s a stretch to say Zheng He did anything of the kind in the Indian Ocean. He made an impression and took out some pirates, but I think at most it was a potential presence that was cut short by the Ming emperor saying “ah, screw it”.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/pomfretschina/2008/12/the_return_of_zheng_he_chinas.html
This is likely the tentative beginning of a far more active role that the military will begin to play in protecting China’s fast increasing overseas interests.
Historically speaking, I think we can call that imperialism, can’t we?
The spin boys at Zhongnanhai are going to have to work hard to remedy the cognitive dissonance they’re feeling right now. I hope they can come up with something better than ‘harmonisation of the waves’.
I was too late. Black and White Cat reports that the pirates have already been harmonised:
http://tiny.cc/harmony355