The Dragon Has Landed For The American Eagle

The Dragon has landed for the American eagle 

In the second quarter 2010 GDP calculations China edged past Japan and thus informally became the world’s number two economy. By early next year, the world fact books will be revised and the number two rank will be formally bestowed upon Beijing. But just being the world number two economy without a concomitant rise in its military might is no good as Japan must have painfully realized all these years. China, however, is determined not to commit this mistake that Japan did. 
In terms of area, population, size of the military and intentions, China is far better suited to the Number Two role in world affairs than Japan is. And if China maintains its doubledigit growth rate for two more decades, as it has in last three decades, it is projected to become the number one power in the world by 2025, surpassing the US both in terms of size of economy as well as armed forces. China too is conscious of the Shakespearean dictum “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown” and has taken a conscious decision not to pitchfork itself into leadership role in the world’s most sensitive and troubled theaters. It is a matter of time when China becomes a superpower.

However, superpower status must bring with it a sense of responsibility and restraint which unfortunately China has not shown. On the contrary, even as Beijing is racing down the road to superpower status, it appears to be in an unseemly haste in shoring up its defense forces, particularly the Navy, and has gone on an overdrive in making territorial claims. 
The blunt manner in which China recently laid claim to its right to control navigation and research activities, not just fishing and seabed resources, within their Exclusive Economic Zones, leaves none in doubt about what it is up to with regard to the South China Sea. The Chinese statements and actions also indicate that in their scheme of things the western Pacific is no longer going to be accessible to all as China has of late started projecting it as its backyard and exclusive area of influence.

Japanese Tanks and Navy

In the process, Beijing is also throwing to the winds the international norms and the principle of Global Commons wherein trade is free and economic and political access is unfettered, giving equal access to all states to the international water bodies. 
China is doing all this to project itself as an equal before the US. Beijing publicly castigated the recent US-South Korea naval exercises and described the event as “destabilizing”. Angry official voices from Beijing said China had as much reason to be upset about such activities in its backyard as the US was about the Soviet maneuvers during the Cuban missile crisis. 
The amazing thing about China’s unrelenting quick march to superpower status is that it is working simultaneously in all important directions, particularly up gradation of its defense forces. China is well aware of the historical fact that only the most powerful seafaring nations have ruled the earth since centuries. To give teeth to its navy, China is working on the 2400-km range DF – 21 Anti Submarine Ballistic Missile (ABSM), a weapon that promises to be Beijing’s game-changer, trump card in future naval battles. This weapon is aimed at decapitating American warships in the region. 
What makes interception of this weapon well nigh impossible is that it is equipped with space-based maritime surveillance and targeting systems. This is the gravest threat ever faced by the US Navy. The American maritime superiority is threatened like never before. Already the over-stretched American naval forces are no match to China, both in terms of numbers and fire power. It is a fact that the US alone is no longer capable to check and counter the Chinese naval hegemony in Asia; Washington will need the help of Japan, India, Vietnam and South Korea to do that. 
Beijing is well aware of the fact that the international community is not going to sit idle and would inevitably “gang up” (in the Chinese perspective) to counter the China factor. Japan, the US, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and South Korea are those powers which will be pleased to see a contained, if not constricted, China. Russia too will not be interested in doing anything to strengthen and fatten the Chinese behemoth. Australia, which currently has its own domestic political problems to deal with, has in the past favored Beijing diplomatically, but if the pushes were to come to shoves the chances are that Australia will do what Washington would like it to do.