Posted on 09/17/2001 11:09:35 PM PDT by duck soup
Countering China’s Strategic Encirclement of India Colonel Gurmeet Kanwal China’s lips say they have no expansionist ambitions. But their body language says, ‘Get out of the Way.’ Douglas Paal (President of the Asia Pacific Policy Centre) China, already the largest power in Asia, is gradually emerging as a major global power and will acquire formidable economic and military capabilities in the first few decades of the 21st century. Its growing economy is expected to overtake the US economy between 2020 and 2050. Its strategy of "four modernisations", formally adopted in 1978, is bearing fruit and is leading to fairly rapid, though regionally skewed, development and modernisation, including of the armed forces. In recent years, the Chinese have stressed the need for "comprehensive national strength" in determining the country’s role in international affairs. The Chinese concept of national defence is no longer limited merely to the defence of territory but has been expanded to include the seaboard and outer space. The erstwhile strategy of coastal defence has been converted to a strategy of "Oceanic Offensive". The emphasis on bolstering naval and air forces stems from a desire to project power well away from China’s shores.
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