The New Cold War is at Sea If there ever has been a time to educate America about the strategic utility of maritime power, and its essential role in advancing American security, this is the time. By James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer
https://amgreatness.com/2024/12/01/the-new-cold-war-is-at-sea/
Since the end of Operation Desert Storm and the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. Department of Defense has failed to maintain one of the principal dictates of great power competition—the necessity of having a well-balanced military force. This deficiency has been most evident in the maritime domain. Tellingly, the size of the U.S. Navy has shrunk from about 600 warships in 1986 to just over 290 ships today. This decline in the size, and capabilities, of the U.S. Navy occurred in large part because the nation’s leader was obsessed with what has been termed as “endless wars”—those fought in the land domains of the Middle East (ME), Southwest Asia (SWA), and now Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, this myopic focus on ground war has occurred just as the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has conducted the largest naval build-up and modernization of any nation since the end of World War II.
The reality of these two diametrically opposed trendlines was brought to a head this past week by a series of announcements from both the PRC and U.S., which signals what can be declared as the end of “endless ground wars” and what should be a return to a balanced national defense strategy—namely one that includes the foundational importance of maritime power—something that has been sorely neglected over the past three decades.
The first announcement was made by the PRC’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi who made the unusual statement that “China is ready to work with other countries to use the three global initiatives as an opportunity to elevate global maritime governance and improve the well-being of all people.” Since coming to power in late 2012, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping has implemented three global governance initiatives: the Global Development Initiative in September 2021, the Global Security Initiative in April 2022, and the Global Civilization Initiative in March 2023.
Foreign Minister Wang justified the PRC’s announced global maritime initiative by unabashedly revealing that the promotion of “global maritime governance and the construction of a maritime community” as being an “integral” part of the CCP’s goal of creating a new global order—one that they allege is for all of mankind.
This announcement is a clear and unambiguous further challenge to the U.S. and the existing post-WWII order that rests on the foundation of “freedom of navigation” for all nations. An order that has benefited America, and mankind, more than any other in history. The PRC’s global maritime initiative will further weaken U.S. maritime power vis-à-vis existing protocols like the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which extends the concept of freedom of the seas for America’s benefit, as well as all the rest of the world.
What this means in practical terms is that Beijing will continue its agenda by rewriting UNCLOS or creating a new forum under the auspices of the PRC’s Global Maritime Initiative—backed up by the power and might of the PLA Navy, the world’s largest and increasingly most powerful navy on the high seas.
Against the backdrop of this announcement from Beijing, were the recent comments made by the Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Sam Paparo regarding the preparedness and capabilities of the PLA Navy. The admiral noted the PRC has demonstrated it has improved its maritime power when this past summer, the PLA Navy participated in the largest joint exercises the Admiral had ever witnessed in his career. He revealed that on one day the PLAN had “152 vessels at sea, including three-quarters of their amphibious force” engaged in “breaching obstacles and military operations in urban terrain.” He further noted that the PLA Navy was engaged in the largest invasion rehearsals ever seen during Taiwan’s 1010 Anniversary, which he observed had “demonstrated the upward trajectory of PLA modernization.“
The two announcements remind us of the importance of maritime power for the national security and prosperity of America. In other words, “America First” requires the largest and best Navy on the planet. There is a compelling need to restore American maritime power to advance America’s interests. This is largely because there has been a great emphasis on land power to fight the wars in the ME and SWA. That emphasis has been detrimental to the Army, as it now adapts to the prodigious demands of a potential great power war against the PRC.
Likewise, this unbalanced approach to American national security has been acutely damaging to the U.S. Navy, as the service subjugated its historic great power responsibility of command of the seas to support wars in the ME and SWA. Most exemplified when the former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Mullen proudly, but to his shame, boasted that there were more Navy sailors ashore in the 5th Fleet and were afloat. So while the U.S. Navy struggles to adapt to this kind of poor strategic leadership, the enemy has kept moving with alacrity and strategic purpose to best the U.S. Navy and establish global maritime supremacy. Turning over the control of the high seas to Xi, the CCP and the PLA Navy is not in America’s or our allies’ best interests.
A PLA Navy that controls the high seas will be a Navy that can strangle American trade and directly threaten our homeland. Significantly, Xi is the most dedicated leader to the PRC’s maritime power and aspiration for global maritime dominance that has existed in history. He has transformed the PLA Navy, Chinese Coast Guard, Maritime Militia, and fishing fleets into the largest on the globe. Despite the PRC’s mighty economic and social challenges, Xi and the CCP have now embarked on the goal of sailing and ruling the world’s oceans.
Fortunately, President Trump and his incoming team are aware of this threat and are prepared to address the rebalancing that must occur within the Department of Defense. For instance, the first of the service secretaries to be announced was the Secretary of the Navy (SEVNAV)—John Phelan. When confirmed, the new SECNAV will have his hands full in leading the charge to rebuild the U.S. Navy and establishing a new American Maritime Strategy, one that is prepared to deter and, in worst cases, defeat the PLA Navy in a war at sea.
Given the urgency of the PRC threat, if there ever has been a time to educate America about the strategic utility of maritime power, and its essential role in advancing American security, this is the time. That knowledge will provide the necessary and sustained support from the American people required as this country rebuilds its Navy and its naval infrastructure to meet the colossal demands of the 21st century in the maritime domain, not more endless land wars.
James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer are authors of Embracing Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure. The views expressed are their own.
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