WASHINGTON, DC - A new report released today by the American Defense Council reveals that the People's Republic of China now controls most of the world's strategic shipping lanes, through which flows America's lifeblood of oil and commerce.
"China's Maritime Power Projection," published by the independent defense policy organization, documents how in the last decade Communist China has succeeded in building, managing or operating ports adjacent to seven of the 10 major global shipping chokepoints. In the case of the Panama Canal, the Chinese control ports at each end of the Western Hemisphere's most important sea lane.
The briefing paper's 36 pages of text, 210 footnotes, satellite photos, tables and maps details China's growing stranglehold on the straits of Dover, Hormuz, Tsushima, Malacca and Sunda, as well as both the Suez and Panama canals. In 2001 China spent more than $1 billion in port acquisition and port infrastructure construction around the world, the report notes.
Dan Perrin, president of the American Defense Council, said China's strategy involves more than just supporting its growing merchant fleet - now one of the largest in the world.
"What's most alarming is the speed and deliberate nature of Beijing's execution of its plan to command these global shipping lanes that are crucial to America's economy and military," he explained. "During the Gulf War the United States transported ninety-five percent of its military supplies by sea. And we move almost all of our foreign trade via these ocean highways. China's domination of them poses a threat to us in both peace and war."
And when China's interests warrant, it will not hesitate to slam the gate on key waterways, Mr. Perrin added. "For example, in 1996 they shut down the Taiwan Straits by launching missiles into that shipping lane under the guise of a live-fire test."
With 96,308 members, the American Defense Council is one of the fastest growing nonprofit grassroots citizens groups in the country. It conducts research vital to the military, intelligence, political, economic and sovereign interests of the United States and disseminates this information to policymakers and the American people with the goal of improving U.S. national security.
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