"Whoever controls the ocean will control the wealth of the earth and the earth itself." Globalization stems from the great discovery of modern marine geography, and sea power has been branded with globalization since its birth. More than a century ago, when American naval strategist Mahan founded the theory of sea power, he emphasized that the world today is in an era we call "globalization". With the deepening of globalization, it is more necessary for us to examine the profound significance of sea power to national security and national interests.
1 politics: In fact, there are more than 100 countries bordering on the sea, and geopolitics between countries is finally manifested as ocean and sea power. For important deep-water ports, maritime traffic arteries and strategically significant straits and bays, which country has actual control, which country has the right to speak, which of course enhances political capital and political value. So the geo-strategy of the ocean determines a sea.
2. Economy: In today's global economic integration, the transportation of most materials, especially important strategic energy materials, must be realized by the ocean. For example, the main oil transportation routes at sea and pipeline transportation below the sea surface all involve the possession of the ocean's own resources. Developing the economy means developing the ocean, and promoting the development of the ocean is bound to be the result of economic development. Therefore, the establishment and competition of sea power is also the necessity of economic development. To develop the economy for a long time, we must ensure that we have the right to control the sea.
3 security: "Air supremacy is the basis of sea supremacy, which is the basis of land security, and land security is the basis of national security!" This sentence profoundly reflects the importance of the ocean for a country's security construction. Small tactical campaigns can make sea power resist the enemy's landing, while large strategic sea power can eliminate the long-term threat of the enemy and build a safe, peaceful and stable external environment. Therefore, it can be said that how much sea power you have mastered, how much national security you have mastered. The experience of the two world wars shows that sea power has special advantages over land power, and the party who holds sea power can mobilize all kinds of global resources to suppress the party who adheres to the land power strategy. Sea power can condense scattered land power and form a resultant force, so it is a "multiplier" of land power. Therefore, the influence of a land empire with strong sea power is far greater than that without sea power. Why did Britain and Germany compete fiercely in North Africa during World War II? Because once Germany occupied North Africa and controlled the Middle East, Britain would be cut off from its huge colonial area, and it would be difficult for Britain to mobilize powerful overseas forces to participate in the war.
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Unlike the best defense in history is attack, the best defense in the era of globalization is cooperation and prevention. . Since modern times, the tragedy of China's coastal defense has been repeated again and again, and its root lies in the backward and unrealistic view of coastal defense. 1874, in response to the impact of the first ocean wave, the Qing Dynasty launched a coastal defense plan, which affected for a hundred years. As a result, out of fear of the industrial revolution, the strategic thought of self-isolation made the decision of "defending for war". As a result, the Beiyang Navy fell into its own trap, which not only led to the collapse of its own home, but also caused the collapse of China's coastal defense. Today, economic globalization is bringing about the second worldwide wave of marine development, and China needs a coastal defense view that conforms to the spirit of the times. Compared with the first wave of marine development, the historical conditions and development connotation are very different. The former is that maritime countries occupy sea lanes to plunder land resources and establish overseas colonies. The primary task of coastal defense is to repel maritime invaders. Nowadays, the new wave of marine development is to develop marine resources on a global scale, and the focus of coastal defense has shifted to shaping and maintaining a peaceful environment for marine development. The concept of coastal defense needs a new historical orientation to cope with new contradictions. Generally speaking, marine economy and marine development are in the same interest group full of local conflicts and have distinct geopolitical characteristics. The historical responsibility of maintaining the safety of marine environment, sea lanes and marine economy and handling the conflict of maritime rights and interests determines that the mission of China's coastal defense will be to develop cooperation and prevent crises. On the one hand, China and other countries in the world are facing the same development proposition, from peripheral security cooperation, regional security cooperation to global maritime security cooperation. On the other hand, under the framework of defensive policies, prevent bilateral maritime crises, prevent regional maritime conflicts, curb the collapse of maritime security order, and respond to non-traditional threats and challenges. To some extent, taking the road of cooperative prevention is also a return to China's classical coastal defense thought.
The era of naval duel is coming to an end, and naval warfare has entered a new era of long-range joint defense operations. Last year, when I visited America, many people asked me the same question. As far as naval warfare capability is concerned, if the Japanese navy fights the US navy and even Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, will it be another Sino-Japanese war? I told them that this premise is difficult to establish, because with the development of joint operations and long-range precision weapons, the naval battle from ship-to-ship confrontation to naval single-service contest will come to an end, and the future naval battle will no longer be a one-man show of the navy, but a long-range joint operation with first-line ships, second-line air, third-line land-based and space support. With the transformation of naval warfare from melee system to distant system, countries with large land area and wide strategic depth will gain the natural conditions to occupy an advantageous position. In this regard, we need to have a strategic vision of sustainable development and grasp the development trend of maritime forces.
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Global interests need a blue-water navy.
Sea power is a country's ability to use military power to control the ocean, and the most direct embodiment is the strength of sea power (navy). The President and Hu Jintao put forward that "we should forge a powerful naval force to ensure that the mission can be effectively carried out at any time", which is the order to implement China's sea power strategy. The development of "Blue Water" navy, as the first step of China's sea power strategy, has changed the embarrassing situation of Chinese people. But compared with the real blue-water navy, there is still a long way to go.
The choice of weapon development should be based on system matching, and the biggest inspiration of aircraft carrier for the future is the idea of systematic construction. Historical experience shows that the goal of weapon development is not to pursue the most powerful weapon, but to pursue the optimal weapon system to meet the needs of the mission. Historical experience also shows that the most powerful weapon among high-tech weapons also has the most vulnerable side. The development of a large-scale weapon platform requires early warning, communication, command, mobility, protection and support capabilities that match the strike capability. Doubling the tonnage may triple the risk. This issue is also a hot topic in the US military. When I visited the United States Naval War College, some professors stood on the opposite side of the aircraft carrier, while the generals stuck to the front line of continuing to develop the aircraft carrier. In my opinion, the value of the aircraft carrier is not only the contribution as a strategic long arm, but more importantly, it is different from other naval weapons at the same time, that is, it is a combat system, and other weapons can only be called combat systems. Therefore, by absorbing the idea of aircraft carrier and systematically transforming the maritime combat platform, destroyers, frigates and submarines can be transformed into light aircraft carriers, micro aircraft carriers and underwater aircraft carriers with long-range reconnaissance and strike capabilities, three-dimensional defense capabilities and lasting endurance capabilities in a relatively short period of time with less cost and more mature state-owned technology, which is expected to realize the leap-forward development of naval weapons as a whole.
How, when and in what way should China's sea power issue be resolved? China's sea power issue can be divided into South China Sea issue and East China Sea issue, and the nature of solution can be divided into military solution and political and diplomatic solution. Solutions can be divided into passive solutions and active solutions. The East China Sea issue is basically only a Japanese issue. Diaoyutai is a key and symbolic island. To solve this problem, there is greater pressure to force Japan to make concessions and agree to develop in the East China Sea. Even before the settlement of the Taiwan Province issue, Chinese mainland has no intention of further showing its presence near Diaoyutai, but it will never allow Japan to aggravate the tension. If Japan intensifies its claim to sovereignty in the region, China should take more practical actions than a solemn statement: for example, Diaoyutai is included in the China missile test site: Japan will not test unless it lands on the island or sets up buildings, and if there are new settings, it will be cleared by missiles regularly; Mine blockade Diaoyutai and so on. At least, no one wants to take further action at Diaoyutai in the near future. The East China Sea issue can easily lead to uncontrollable conflicts. Before the problem of Taiwan Province Province is solved, the cost of solving and managing Diaoyutai will be the biggest. The East China Sea issue, such as Diaoyutai, should be really strong in China, and after the problem of Taiwan Province Province is solved (the carrier is not strong as an indicator, and the carrier will basically not be used for military confrontation with countries with similar strength, such as Japan and the United States). The South China Sea issue involves many countries, and the countries concerned also want to make trouble and create trouble. On the South China Sea issue, China can't just protest without action. Especially for countries that have to challenge China to make concessions, put aside disputes and develop together, we should choose a suitable one and give it a good lesson at the right time to make an example. Otherwise, some countries will follow suit when they see more Chinese and less rain. If the East China Sea issue can be solved in a timely, tough and passive way at this stage, then we should adopt a more active strategy for the South China Sea issue after some countries have provoked disputes. For example, those who attempt to encroach on China's territorial waters through laws should be allowed to move out of the occupied islands within a time limit, otherwise they will be cleared by missiles. Retreat for progress. Let the occupied island go to zero. In the South China Sea, we should combine hard and soft, give priority to politics and diplomacy, draw a red line, the soft is weaker, and the hard must take action; On the East China Sea issue, we should echo each other with Taiwan Province Province, with soft bottom line and hard performance, so as to avoid the performance of transferring domestic contradictions.
China's sea power issue is not only an indicator to test whether we are really strong, but also an indicator to test our self-confidence and the backbone of the country. This is also the best time to show our wisdom in solving these complex factors, including economic and military diplomacy. To solve these problems, we should guard against people deliberately using these problems to transfer domestic contradictions. We shouldn't cooperate with their performance, but we must never cross the red line. We should not be afraid of the international and even military troubles brought by these problems, nor should we be superstitious about our future military strength. We are developing, others are developing, and whenever we solve it, we have to face the same troubles and challenges. If we can't cope with provocation, we will not only take measures to solve the problem, but also be really weakened by history.