Resentful Arrogant Perceptions

Long resentful that America and the West never treat them as equals the Chinese are determined to control their military destiny in cyber space as well as on the ground, sea and air. They want to match the U.S. on the world stage and dominate their hemisphere in the same way Washington dominates its own. China’s approach to international relations may seem crude, but it underpins the deep anger with which China has greeted the string of American embarrassments: charges of campaign-financing corruption, the rebuff to Premier Zhu Rongji’s concessions to win WTO endorsement, NATO’s assault on a sovereign Yugoslavia and the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, which no Chinese citizen believes was accidental. The downing of the Chinese fighter jet after colliding with a U.S. surveillance plane added to the perception of American determination to subjugate China. Moving weaponry and equipment based in Germany and Italy in the last half of the 20th century to Asia at the dawn of the 21st century to contain China only magnified the perception.

The outrage, fear and concern expressed by America when China admitted in December 2008, it was seriously considering building its first aircraft carrier to protect its national interests and as a symbol of national strength, is hypocritical political spin. How can America be so disingenuous, when at the same time President George W. Bush commissions America’s newest aircraft carrier named after his father which carries a lot more planes, is much bigger and is the 10th nuclear-powered Nimitz-class carrier to enter service with the U.S. Navy? Even though they are the world’s largest warships, they will be replaced by 2015 by even bigger and more advanced nuclear powered class of carriers. Former Vice President Dick Cheney said in 2006 these ships will help ensure the sea power of the United States for the next half century.

To defend its interests in Asia and contain China, the U.S. has been steadily transferring more aircraft carriers and other warships from its Atlantic fleet to the Pacific. The result is that of America’s 280 ships in the navy, the Pacific fleet’s share has risen from 45 percent to 54 percent and continues to increase. The fleet now includes six of the navy’s 11 carriers, almost all of the 18 Aegis cruises and destroyers that have been modified for ballistic-missile defense operations, and 26 of the 57 attack submarines.

To counter, China is not just getting into the aircraft business to compete. It is also developing ballistic missiles with non-nuclear warheads and guidance systems to hit moving surface ships at sea in the Western Pacific before they can get within range of Chinese targets. If they can develop technology that can shoot down satellites in space, it won’t be to long before they perfect their anti-ship ballistic missiles. They would have a range of up to 3,000 kilometers and be equipped with maneuverable re-entry vehicles designed to hit moving warships at hypersonic speed after being launched by rocket from land. This is a new technology and one the U.S. has never faced. If successful, the carriers that are the potent symbol of U.S. naval power will become sitting ducks in the opinion of Michael Richardson, a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

It was therefore no surprise that China decided in January 2009, to honor the scientific team from Dalian University of Technology that came up with the satellite zapper that can destroy a satellite nearly 1000 kilometers above earth with the 2008 State Top Scientific and Technological Invention Award. What was a surprise is that it was a very public grand ceremony in the Great Hall of the People. China is definitely becoming more open and assertive. It is estimated that in a few years China will have more than 100 satellites in space.