SPEAKING
FREELY China searches for maritime
stability By Dallas Darling
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
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When a Chinese
admiral proposed a permanent naval base in the
Gulf of Aden to support its anti-piracy
operations, the United States was quick to condemn
the idea.
And as armed naval vessels from
the Philippines claim they caught Chinese
fishermen poaching over a South China Sea shoal,
causing Chinese naval vessels to also become
involved, US officials have again reiterated their
support in defending the Philippines and its navy.
While both nations are at a tense standoff, some
even assert that China is wanting to expand its
sea power in the region
for the purpose of energy exploration.
Although these events occurred in the
midst of a China-Russian naval drill, one
shouldn't be too concerned about how the
mainstream press is misrepresenting China's navy.
The naval drill, including the South China Sea
standoff and possible Chinese base in the Gulf of
Aden, are all primarily representations of China's
desire to again be acknowledged, especially by
Western imperial powers that have maintained
dozens of colonies and protectorates throughout
the Pacific along with sea and military bases.
China is also wanting to uphold regional peace
alliances and provide stability for its own
shipping commerce.
The pride of China's
maritime trade and exchanges actually started
centuries before Western kingdoms sought to
explore and exploit the world. Still, the rise of
Westernized war ships and sea power was made
possible only because of Chinese navigational
innovations. As early as the first century,
Chinese ships loaded with luxury items like silk
and spices and gems were making a long coast-wise
journey around Siam and India and Arabia, through
the African-Mediterranean region, to Rome. The sea
routes were much cheaper, faster and safer than
overland routes. [1]
These maritime
ventures were symbolic of China's trade and
commerce, and they helped develop navigational
equipment that benefited much of the world. By the
early 15th century, Emperor Zhu Di had employed
Zheng He to command China's treasure fleets. Zheng
He was born to a Muslim family and became one of
the greatest skilled navigators in the history of
sea travel. Seven major voyages were undertaken
with hundreds of ships, some 300 to 400 feet long.
They were multiple nail-bound, with watertight
hull compartments, up to nine masts, and dozens of
spacious cabins.
Chinese treasure ships
also had sophisticated stern-post rudders of a
type that would not be seen in Europe until the
early modern period. [2] The maritime ventures
stabilized the critical Strait of Malacca, ruled
by renegade pirates, and increased trade and
commerce. They also spread new ideas and
innovations. China shared the magnetic compass and
introduced improved navigational techniques to
Arab and European kingdoms, like fore-and-aft
rigging that sailed into the wind, paddle wheels,
and the sleek caravels. [3]
But foremost
in China's Eastern philosophies, its rich cultural
heritage, and its technological inventions, was
the need to be acknowledged and to be recognized
by other countries, specifically of its importance
and place in the "Western Ocean." [4] This was the
real purpose for large-scale maritime and
diplomatic-motivated explorations. According to
some naval historians, one expedition, a a
detachment from Zheng He's sixth expedition,
visited America in 1421, along with Australia, New
Zealand, the Atlantic coast of Brazil, and the
Cape Verde Islands. Such a voyage would be
seventy-five years before that of Christopher
Columbus. [5]
As the US and other nations,
including the Philippines and Japan, appear overly
fearful of China's naval activities, they may
instead want to learn several valuable lessons
from China's maritime history. Emperor Zheng
earned little economic reward from his massive
treasure trips, but they did consume much of the
nation's timber and other valuable resources for
shipbuilding. [6] And within a few generations,
reactionary and fearful Chinese isolationists
allowed their merchant fleets to wither.
As a new dynasty, the Ming Dynasty,
retreated from maritime trade and commerce,
Japanese wako marauders so terrorized China's
coastline that to this day women in Fujian
province hide their faces with blue scarves
originally designed to shield the wearer from the
lecherous gaze of foreign bandits. [7] Britain and
France would later force the Qing Dynasty to trade
in opium currency, which devastated China. Other
imperial powers, like the US, Japan, and Russia,
militarily carved China into economic spheres,
resulting in numerous Chinese rebellions and
resistance movements.
Neither has China
forgotten World War I and World War II, both of
which were considered European Civil Wars by
Chinese officials, and both of which forced China
to take sides. A US-led war against communist
forces, the Japanese invasion of China and War of
Resistance, and numerous Western military
engagements and preemptive wars with China's
neighbors, have adversely impacted China. Perhaps
it is time to allow China to pursue a kind of
self-strengthening movement, so as to equalize the
balance of power in the Pacific region, helping to
bring stability and innovations once again to the
world.
Notes 1.
Bernstein, William J. A Splendid Exchange, How
Trade Shaped The World. New York, New York:
Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008, p 2. 2. Ibid, p
100. 3. Perkins, Dorothy. Encyclopedia of
China: The Essential Reference to China, Its
History and Culture. New York, New York: Facts
On File Publishers, 2000, p 457. 4. Ibid, p
457. 5. Bernstein, William J. A Splendid
Exchange, How Trade Shaped The World, p
103. 6. Ibid, p 102. 7. Ibid, p 103.
Dallas Darling is the author of
Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious
Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above
God: 52 Weekly Reflections on Modern-Day
Imperialism, Militarism, and Consumerism in the
Context of John's Apocalyptic Vision, and
The Other Side of Christianity: Reflections on
Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace.
He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com.
You can read more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com.)
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online
feature that allows guest writers to have their
say.Please
click hereif you are interested in
contributing. Articles submitted for this section
allow our readers to express their opinions and do
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