Zhou Bo: An important question is: How does the U.S. Navy respond to the increasingly powerful Chinese navy?How can the two sides ensure that they encounter on the sea without causing a large -scale conflict?

At the beginning of the opening of Asia's most well-known security forum (generally known as Shanngri-La Dialogue), there is an important issue in all aspects: how will the US Navy deal with the increasingly powerful Chinese navy?

The Internal Institute (Internal Institute for Strategic Studies) said that from 2014 to 2018, the number of submarines, warships, amphibious warships, and auxiliary ships built in China exceeded Germany, India, Spain, and the United Kingdom.The Chinese Navy has the ability to develop strong maritime strength: continuous investment, self -sufficient military industry, and a government that promises to build the people's PLA as a world -class army.

Compared with the Army or the Air Force, the Chinese Navy has suffered less practical tests, but as China ’s vulnerability in the sea increases, the Chinese Navy has begun to attract attention.The U.S. Navy regularly dispatches warships through the Vietnamese China Sea and conducts free navigation operations, challenging China as a region that is regarded as sovereignty, and the United States is regarded as a militaryization.As the maximum trade and exporter, China has also increased concerns about the security of international maritime channels.From 2009 to 2013, at least five Chinese merchant ships were hijacked in the Gulf of Aden and Guinea.

Since 2008, the operation of cracking down on pirates has given the PLA Navy for the first time to have the opportunity to carry out military operations other than war other than war outside the Chinese waters.Since then, the Chinese Navy ’s ships have started to move in more distant waters. In 2017, China established a naval logistics support base in Djibouti.

China hopes to be admired by the outside world, rather than worrying about the outside world.Since 2010, the Chinese Navy Medical Ship and Peace ARK have visited 43 developing countries to provide free medical services.Of the 6631 ships escorted by the Chinese Navy, more than half of the Chinese Navy were owned by foreign countries.When the violent activities of Libya and Yemen spread, the PLA Navy had evacuated Chinese and foreign citizens.

I expect that the Chinese Navy will not seek to dominate the throat at sea. The outside world will be exaggerated to the concerns of China's construction of the pearl chain military base in order to project force in the Indian Ocean.On the contrary, the Chinese Navy must cooperate with neighboring countries to share information and contact rules, improve interoperability, and enhance joint action capabilities.This is why the Chinese Special Forces and other countries jointly carry out naval operations and participate in the Balling, which aims to combat the sharing awareness of the Indian Ocean Pirates and reduce the conflict platform.

The more Chinese naval ships sail around the world, the more likely it is to encounter the U.S. Navy ships.This may mean quarrel or cooperation.Some people in China are worried that the United States may block the MDASH; MDash; more than 80%of China's oil imports are transported through the Malacca Strait.At the same time, some Americans are worried that China is trying to drive the United States out of the Indian Ocean-Pacific Sea.

Both China and the United States have nuclear weapons, so the possibility of decisive naval battles between the two sides is very small.But the danger lies in the South China Sea, and the nervous encounter between the Chinese and American Navy there has become common.U.S. Navy's Secretary of Combat John Bull; John Richardson recently announced that the United States will respond to the provocation of Chinese maritime police and fishing boats in a way to deal with the Chinese Navy.Although neither China nor the United States wants to war, the challenge is how to ensure that encounters will not cause a large -scale conflict.

The two countries' cooperation (instead of acupuncture) will be much better.The first step will be agreed on the flexible explanation of freedom of sailing.Then they can cooperate in other places in the international waters.The navy of the 20 countries once combined to fight pirates in the Gulf of Aden, which is a good example of common interests that make seemingly impossible partners cooperate.It is also a good starting point.

The author of this article is a special researcher at the PLA Academy of Mility Science

Translator/He Li