Posted on 03/06/2011 6:55:48 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
After Beijing sends a frigate to the Med, a leading author poses a chilling question... How long until a Chinese aircraft carrier sails up the Thames?
By Ian Morris
Almost 600 years have passed since Chinese warships last cruised the coasts of Africa. But now they are back. In 1418, China’s Ming dynasty sent its eunuch admiral Zheng He into the Indian Ocean at the head of the largest armada the world had ever seen.
Sweeping aside all opposition, Zheng suppressed pirates, extorted payoffs from princes and sent missions as far as Kenya and Arabia.
And then, as suddenly as they had come, the Chinese warships disappeared.
They returned in 2008. Once again Somali pirates were robbing at will in the Gulf of Aden, and once again a Chinese navy wanted to stop them.
But history never repeats itself exactly. The Chinese knew almost nothing about Africa in 1418; now China is Africa’s biggest trading partner. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese work there, in everything from oil and iron to farming and finance.
Last month, Beijing took another step beyond anything that happened 600 years ago.
With Libya teetering on the brink of civil war, it ordered the 4,000-ton frigate Xuzhou through the Suez Canal to cover the escape of 30,000 Chinese workers. For the first time in history, a Chinese warship sailed on the Mediterranean Sea.
But the Xuzhou’s mission is not just humanitarian. If democratic governments rise out of the ashes of Middle Eastern autocracy, they are unlikely to be very pro-Western.
They will be looking for new friends;
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Too close for comfort? The Chinese frigate Xuzhou, which was on patrol in the Mediterranean last month, but its mission was not purely humanitarian
Who rules the waves? Britain is planning to build two new aircraft carriers to replace the two it currently has
Not long at all, by historical standards.
Red China is an aggressive and wealthy totalitarian state --- indeed, it is buying a port right here in the U.S.
My nephew lives in Red China and he loves it. He works for some world class water show as a rescue diver.
Yeah, but they’ll be moving it with oars unless Obama sells them some more of our technology for a campaign donation.
I wonder when the Chinese will make their "Great Yellow Fleet" show of force?
Maybe the lesson for we Western nations is to move ahead to new technologies and not to try to match the PRC in recreating the Cold War.
Hello, I'm Joe American - taxpayer, and I approve of this message:
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-01/navys-free-electron-laser-weapon-takes-big-leap-forward-powerful-new-electron-injector
China is colonizing Africa. They will use Africa’s oil, mineral, agricultural, and human resources to their own benefit. A strong blue water navy is needed, they think, to protect their interests. Who is surprised?
Yeah. Isn’t that what they are supposed to do?
That totally AWESOME water show is however, in Macaou not “Red” China, where for the time being, as in Hong Kong, there remain remarkably more individual freedoms than in China itself.
The borders between China and those dependencies are actually more highly regulated than those of any western European nation, or the USA.
European/Western colonialism is virtually dead; Chinese colonialism is alive and well. =.=
Good. I hope they do a better job than we westerners did.
Thanks, My nephew wants me to come visit but time is lacking. You are 100% correct on the location. I appreciate the vast knowledge of FReeperdom.
For all you non Naval readers, it is called “Command of the Sea”. As England declines, and the US stands at ease with no leadership, the ChiComs step up to the plate.
When they have effective command of the Pacific, and the US cannot insure that our imports get thru, ...... You can finish the sentence.
This is not the 1600’s so why in hell is it chilling. Pure nonsense! !!
Either way the stupid “elites” will hope to back the winner so they can keep “theirs”. Stupid elites — whoever wins will either behead you or put a bullet in your head. That's how Muslims and Chicoms operate.
Moreover, China suffers from substantial demographic, economic, and political problems that she seems unable to resolve or even address in a credible manner. A decade or two from now, China's stagnation will be an accepted fact -- and if we do things right -- the US will be starting a new era of strength and prosperity as the global superpower.
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