-
周波:中國如何保護海外利益,又不卷入地區沖突?
最后更新: 2024-05-09 04:24:33以下為南華早報英文原文:
In response to the Houthis attacking ships in the Red Sea bound for Israel, the US recently announced Operation Prosperity Guardian, a security initiative that initially included more than 20 countries, such as Bahrain, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.
But France, Italy and Spain have reportedly dropped out of the US-led coalition and many others decline to acknowledge their involvement. That Bahrain is the only Arab state offering public support speaks volumes about the Arab world’s apathy towards the US – if not resentment of America’s strong support for Israel’s war on Hamas.
This does not look like the “broadest possible” coalition US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called for. Unlike the counter-piracy initiative in the Gulf of Aden, none of America’s Asian allies and partners appear to have turned up this time.
It is strange to hear the US call on Beijing to play “a constructive role in trying to prevent those attacks from taking place”. China should have no such influence on the Houthis, a Yemeni militant group. Instead, should the Chinese naval flotilla operating in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait join the American-led operation, it would compromise China’s position on the Israel-Hamas war and endanger Chinese ships.
If there are still Chinese merchant ships sailing through the Red Sea, the Chinese flotilla should sail northwards to protect them, of course. Chinese warships have previously sailed from the Gulf of Aden to evacuate Chinese nationals from war-torn Libya, Yemen and Sudan.
But should Chinese warships strike back against a Houthi attack on a Chinese vessel, China could be drawn into a conflict in a most volatile region. The Houthis have vowed to continue their Red Sea attacks until Israel stops fighting in Gaza.
So how can the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) protect China’s overseas interests without becoming embroiled in regional conflicts?
China is the world’s top trader and most of the international trade goes by sea. About 12 per cent of global trade passes through the Red Sea with about 62 per cent of China’s oil and 17 per cent of its natural gas imports going through the Malacca Strait and South China Sea.
Reuters journalist Greg Torode recently argued that the Indian Ocean could be Beijing’s Achilles’ heel in a Taiwan war because, apart from its Djibouti military base, China has no air cover from land or sea for Indian Ocean naval deployments. This brings to mind two myths about China’s Indian Ocean strategy: the “ string of pearls” and so-called Malacca dilemma.
The first, a 2004 hypothesis, assumed that China aimed to build a string of military bases and monitoring stations to support its naval outreach up to the Horn of Africa. The Malacca dilemma points to China vulnerabilities should the US blockade the Malacca Strait in a war, cutting off China’s trade flows.
But two decades later, the string of pearls is nowhere to be found. Instead, a Maritime Silk Road is linking Chinese ports to a string of commercial ports: Piraeus in Greece, Kyaukpyu in Myanmar, Gwadar in Pakistan and Colombo and Hambantota in Sri Lanka.
We can’t know if the US would blockade the Malacca Strait but neither is there a guarantee of war in the Taiwan Strait. Beijing still talks about a peaceful reunification with Taiwan. A Malacca Strait blockade would cripple the economies of littoral states such as Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. It would deal a heavy blow to Japan and South Korea, US allies that depend more heavily than China on the security of the strait.
Precisely because of the extreme importance of the Malacca Strait to China, a war triggered by an American blockade is unlikely to end there. If a war between China and the US involved the Indian Ocean, the conflict would have become uncontrollable – it would be a major war involving a lot of countries. The rest is up to everybody’s imagination.
On the face of it, the PLA Navy, albeit the largest in the world, does indeed look vulnerable in the Indian Ocean. Building a military base in a foreign land requires the permission of the country involved. Even if some countries are happy to accommodate, how would they resist pressure from, say, the US or India that sees itself as the “ net security provider” in the Indian Ocean?
But Beijing’s so-called vulnerability may not be a disadvantage. The PLA’s operations abroad are all humanitarian in nature, be it peacekeeping, vessel protection or disaster relief. So long as Beijing exclusively restricts its military operations to protecting its interests and providing humanitarian assistance when necessary, then China does not need a lot of military bases that are hugely costly and difficult to maintain.
Short of bases overseas, the Chinese navy has to maximise cooperation with other stakeholders. In countering piracy, although China’s flotillas work independently, they share information and coordinate with coalitions such as Nato, the Combined Maritime Forces, EU Atalanta and other independent deployers.
In recent years, the PLA’s naval vessels have conducted joint exercises with the Russian, Iranian and Pakistani navies in the Indian Ocean. Joint exercises have also been conducted with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
The best way to protect Chinese interests overseas is to blend them with the interests of others. Beijing does not need to look elsewhere for inspiration. Since 2008, Chinese flotillas have escorted some 7,200 ships transiting the Indian Ocean, including foreign ships. If the western Pacific Ocean is where China has to defend its sovereign rights, then the Indian Ocean looks more like a test ground for what a stronger China might mean for others.
本文系觀察者網獨家稿件,文章內容純屬作者個人觀點,不代表平臺觀點,未經授權,不得轉載,否則將追究法律責任。關注觀察者網微信guanchacn,每日閱讀趣味文章。
-
本文僅代表作者個人觀點。
- 責任編輯: 李澤西 
-
東部戰區回應美艦過航臺灣海峽
2024-05-08 23:04 臺灣 -
福建艦順利完成首次航行試驗
2024-05-08 14:51 中國海軍 -
德國派遣軍艦來南海:考慮過臺灣海峽
2024-05-08 14:47 -
美“艾森豪威爾”號航母再入紅海:執勤超200天
2024-05-08 11:00 巴以恩仇錄 -
“里根”號又出港,艦載機岸上忙訓練
2024-05-07 21:40 -
“腿指定有病”美空軍F-22再現起落架坍塌事故
2024-05-07 16:13 -
波音“星際客機”飛船首次載人試飛推遲
2024-05-07 12:25 航空航天 -
“黃蜂”號戒備群推遲部署期間,兩艘LCAC又相撞
2024-05-06 18:35 -
俄羅斯舉行“非戰略核武器演習”:應對西方挑釁
2024-05-06 16:04 -
美軍新任印太司令部司令就任 什么來頭?
2024-05-06 15:55 涼戰 -
一周軍評:為什么我們還要更多的航母
2024-05-05 10:04 一周軍事觀察 -
俄技集團:2023年炮彈產量增加5倍、火箭彈增加7倍
2024-05-03 18:56 俄羅斯之聲 -
韓國也想入伙“奧庫斯”?
2024-05-01 17:18 三八線之南 -
相比前兩艘航母,福建艦海試有何不同?
2024-05-01 12:00 航空航天 -
一年收到5架F-35 每架都有問題
2024-04-30 16:30 -
中越海警開展今年首次北部灣海域聯合巡邏
2024-04-30 16:21 -
從豹2到布雷德利 莫斯科勝利公園新到什么西方裝備?
2024-04-30 13:09 俄羅斯之聲 -
外媒緊盯福建艦:或馬上開始海試
2024-04-30 13:09 中國航母 -
烏軍總司令:前線局勢正在惡化,俄軍取得局部勝利
2024-04-29 11:14 烏克蘭之殤
相關推薦 -
最新聞 Hot
-
看完這部紀錄片,網友吵起來了
-
“特朗普回歸,這個領域又讓中國贏一局”
-
“特朗普贏了,他們要回家了”
-
“從中國懷里拉走”?
-
美國農民@特朗普:又我挨中國揍?
-
法國外長到訪前,以色列在“法國領地”扣押兩名法國憲兵
-
美聯儲降息25個基點,鮑威爾:若特朗普...
-
德高官焦慮:若特朗普從烏克蘭抽身,中國就贏了
-
“特朗普真男人”“快速停火就是自殺”,他倆同時發聲
-
普京:有些人嘴上承認“一中”,身體卻不老實
-
民主黨拋棄了工人階級?白宮回應桑德斯
-
印度政府智庫:這個中國“圈子”,咱還是得加入
-
“特朗普2.0”將至,日本很揪心
-
他押注特朗普勝,將贏下近5000萬美元,竟有訣竅?
-
“助我勝選”,特朗普任命她為首位女性白宮幕僚長
-
遭外資創紀錄拋售近110億美元,印度股市大跌
-