“Salute to you, comrades.”
So said Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday to sailors of the People’s Liberation Army-Navy. Speaking at a multinational naval showcase in the northern Chinese port city of Qingdao, Xi’s implied message was clear: We now have an oceanic navy with which to impose our will on others.
It’s a message the U.S. can’t ignore.
Xi presided over Tuesday’s naval display while aboard China’s newest Type 055 destroyer warship. That vessel has extremely advanced sensor platforms and air defense capabilities. It is designed to shield Chinese strike groups in the event of a conflict with America. To be clear, it can compete with American warships in a full-on fight.
Xi’s pride is understandable.
Thanks to his investments, China now retains ships and submarines that can operate far away from Chinese waters. While this is an ongoing effort, China retains an ability to fight near the territory of regional states such as the Philippines and Vietnam. That offers Beijing an arrow to employ alongside the shield of its area denial program to protect the mainland. The arrow supports Xi’s activities in the Indian Ocean and Chinese military interests as far away as Venezuela. All of this serves a clear strategic objective: establishing the military architecture to serve Xi’s mercantile empire. That is to say, establishing the architecture to displace and defeat U.S. efforts to defend our order against China’s aggression.
We must get more serious about China’s growing threat. The U.S. Navy continues to overemphasize aircraft carriers as the linchpin of its naval-air battle doctrine. And the U.S. military command responsible for China-related operations continues to lack the tools it needs to win.
President Trump should urgently remedy these issues. If not, he may preside over China’s global hegemony.
