Xi Jinping proposed that overall preparations for maritime military struggles are related to the security of China’s overseas interests

When Chinese leader Xi Jinping attended the plenary meeting of the People's Liberation Army and Armed Police Force delegation, he proposed to deepen reform and innovation and comprehensively enhance strategic capabilities in emerging fields. The outside world has also focused on what Xi Jinping said about the need to coordinate preparations for maritime military struggles. China has shown in the past that safeguarding the security of overseas interests has become an important issue of great concern to China's military strategy.

According to CCTV reports, Xi Jinping pointed out at the plenary meeting of the People's Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force delegation at the Second Session of the 14th National People's Congress of China on the 7th that some representatives expressed their opinions on promoting the construction of maritime situational awareness capabilities, improving cyberspace defense capabilities, promoting the application of artificial intelligence, and strengthening Provide opinions and suggestions on issues such as the overall management and use of space resources, strengthening the standardization of standards in emerging fields, and the construction and application of innovative unmanned combat forces.

Xi Jinping emphasized the need to highlight development priorities and implement strategies and plans related to strategic capacity building in emerging fields. " It is necessary to coordinate preparations for maritime military struggles, maintenance of maritime rights and interests, and maritime economic development, and improve maritime management capabilities. " At the same time, it is necessary to optimize the aerospace layout and promote the construction of China's aerospace system. It is necessary to build a cyberspace defense system and improve the ability to maintain national network security. It is necessary to strengthen the overall planning and implementation of major smart technology projects and increase the application of advanced results.

Our military commentator Qi Leyi pointed out that as early as 2015 , the white paper "China's Military Strategy" proposed by the Chinese government appeared. Under the new situation, the military strategic policy must determine the basic point of war as winning information mainly from the maritime direction. In order to reduce local wars and explore new areas in depth, we must also push forward the strategic frontier and expand the strategic depth of active defense. 

" The development of China's military training in recent years has highlighted the strategic shift forward. It has shifted from inward-oriented homeland defense to an outward-oriented national defense. For example, the 055 large missile destroyer and aircraft carrier cannot operate in offshore waters. Their main operations are Platforms have reached mid- to long-range distances. With China’s strategic development and main battle platforms, they must be pushed outwards, ” he added.

China’s new military war preparations focus on overseas interests and security

Yu Miao, deputy director of the National Defense Policy Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, who participated in the writing of the white paper at the time, once wrote that the white paper " first mentions the key points of new military war preparations, focusing on winning information-based local wars, highlighting maritime military struggles and military struggle preparations " , The main thing is to solve the problem of what kind of war to fight. At the same time, the concept of " overseas areas of interest " was clearly proposed for the first time in the national defense white paper , which also shows that maintaining the security of overseas interests has become an important issue of high concern in military strategy.

It is estimated that from 2013 to 2023 , China's "Belt and Road" investment totaled US$ 1 trillion. Qi Leyi said that in the past, China rarely mentioned so-called " overseas interests " , but at the request of China's powerful country and strong military, the People's Liberation Army One of the four strategic supports is " providing strategic support for safeguarding the country's overseas interests . "

Qi Leyi said: " China's current problem is that there is still a considerable gap between the development of military power and the country's international status and security needs. The economy is at the front, but there is still a gap in military support capabilities at the back. Now we are strengthening this gap. ”

The United States blocks the People's Liberation Army from entering the Western Pacific and China faces increasing pressure from maritime competition

Shu Xiaohuang, an associate researcher at the Institute of Chinese Government, Military and Operational Concepts at Taiwan's National Defense and Security Research Institute, said in an interview with this station that if China wants to capture Taiwan, it will definitely collide with the United States in the Western Pacific. The United States has been promoting Pacific deterrence for four years. initiative, intended to deter the People's Liberation Army from entering the Western Pacific. For China, the United States uses new technologies, combat capabilities, operational concepts, and new strategic deployments, as well as international cooperation and multinational bilateral or multilateral joint exercises. Most of them are concentrated in the East China Sea, the South China Sea and other regions, with particular focus on the Taiwan Strait. Therefore, competition in the ocean puts great pressure on China.

" In addition to China's sovereignty claims, the ocean is its lifeline, especially the South China Sea. If it is blocked by the US military, China's maritime lifeline and energy supply line will be cut off, " Shu Xiaohuang said.

In terms of strategic capabilities in emerging fields, Shu Xiaohuang believes that China wants to imitate the United States. Currently, the entire U.S. military is promoting Joint All-Domain Command and Control ( JADC2 ) , which combines air, ground, ocean, space, electromagnetic spectrum and cyberspace to strengthen networked combat capabilities.

The "China Military Power Report" released by the U.S. Department of Defense in 2022 mentioned that the People's Liberation Army will begin discussing a new " core operational concept " in 2021 , called " Multi-Domain Position War " (Multi-Domain Position War) . Use command, control, communications, information, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance combined with big data and artificial intelligence to quickly identify important vulnerabilities in the opponent's system and launch precise strikes against these vulnerabilities.

Shu Xiaohuang said: " The experience the United States learned from the Ukrainian battlefield is driven by AI , transplanting Ukraine's land combat experience to maritime operations in the Western Pacific. This is why Xi Jinping emphasizes these points, in order to cope with the US military capabilities , with the strengthening of military technology and changes in combat concepts. " 

Analysis: China relies on “copying homework” to catch up with the military gap with the United States

In our " Asia Want to Talk " program, the host asked that China's defense budget growth this year will still maintain a growth rate of 7.2% . Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi once expressed serious concern, calling this " the biggest strategic challenge in history. " In the end , Is this China's normal preparation or is it increasing the pace of expansion?

Li Shaomin, a professor at Old Dominion University in the United States, believes that China believes that it will have to fight the United States sooner or later, especially as China’s total output value is about 22 trillion U.S. dollars in terms of purchasing power, which has surpassed the U.S.’s 21 trillion U.S. dollars. The CCP realizes that it must “show its sword” to compete with the United States. He said: " This is not Xi Jinping alone who can make such a decision and have to go against the United States. Xi Jinping is the Xi Jinping of the Chinese Communist Party, not the Chinese Communist Party is Xi Jinping's Chinese Communist Party. The main axis of the Communist Party has never changed and it must always be in power in China. "

Li Shaomin pointed out that China does not have disruptive innovation, which is the so-called " 0 to 1 " innovation, but slowly improves from " 1 to N " . China either copies homework or plagiarizes ideas. This is fast and easy for China.

" The gap between the military equipment of the Chinese Communist Party and the United States is narrowing rather than increasing. Because surpassing the United States in military equipment depends on innovation, which is not only difficult, but also involves extremely high uncertainty and investment. " Li Shaomin further said: " A lot of evidence shows that China is not only copying the United States in military technology, but also copying the United States in terms of military management, which is indeed very worrying. "