A New World Order

by Sam Huntington

China continues to increase its naval forces. China continues to intimidate its neighbors by claiming territorial waters from just south of Hainan Island south to Malaysia, and northeast to areas adjacent to the Philippine Islands. What has China’s leadership said about this international thuggery? President Hu Jintao said, “China’s navy must speed up its development and prepare for warfare. The navy must extend their preparations for the military struggle.”

We cannot imagine a clearer threat to the Vietnamese, Filipino, Malayans, Japanese, South Koreans, or the Taiwanese than this. Still, we remain confused about the so-called military struggle. Perhaps Hu is talking about the likely consequences of China’s intent to claim the entire region of the South China Sea and Southwest Pacific Region for offshore petroleum development.

There is little doubt that the Chinese have rattled the cages of their captive neighbors. Filipinos recently complained to the United Nations about the Chinese navy firing on their fishing vessels. Actually, this is not a problem for the Chinese since China doesn’t care what the United Nations thinks —about anything. But the Chinese naval build up has had the effect of causing some dialogue among the Japanese, South Koreans, Taiwanese, Filipinos, and Vietnamese. Chinese behavior has prompted Vietnam to begin purchasing submarines from Russia.

But what happened to that old mainstay in Asia —the United States? According to the BBC, the Obama administration has wet its pants. As a response to President Hu’s threatening verbiage, Pentagon spokesman Admiral John Kirby said, “Nobody’s looking for a scrap here. Certainly, we wouldn’t begrudge any other nation the opportunity to develop their naval forces.”

We aren’t proposing the United States swagger about looking for trouble with China, but we do expect the United States to act in its own interests —as well as the interests of our potential allies in the region. If we understood Chinese culture, we would realize that the United States could advance regional security with this one question to President Hu: “Do you really want to risk your entire fleet by confronting the most powerful navy on the planet?”

As China makes plans for its first aircraft carrier, the Vietnamese have purchased six diesel-electric kilo 636 fast attack submarines. What an interesting situation this is! President Obama may be willing to allow China to push the United States around, but the Vietnamese aren't having any of it. A mildly astute person may recall that we tried appeasement in the last century —albeit with disastrous results. Let’s give it another go, shall we? Let the games begin!

Welcome to the New World Order, folks.