Deepening Chinese activities in the Arctic could pave the way for a strengthened military presence, including the deployment of submarines to act as deterrents against nuclear attack, the Pentagon said in a report on Thursday.
The assessment is included in the military’s annual report to the US Congress on China’s armed forces and follows Beijing’s publication of its first official Arctic policy white paper in June last year.
In that paper, China outlined plans to develop shipping lanes opened up by global warming to form a “Polar Silk Road” — building on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) Belt and Road Initiative.
China, despite being a non-Arctic state, is increasingly active in the polar region and became an observer member of the Arctic Council in 2013.
This has prompted concerns from Arctic states over Beijing’s long-term strategic objectives.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is to attend a meeting of the eight-nation Arctic Council in Rovaniemi, Finland, starting on Monday, which comes amid concerns over China’s increased commercial interests in the Arctic.
The Pentagon report said that Denmark has expressed concern about China’s interest in Greenland, including proposals to establish a research station and a satellite ground station, renovate airports and expand mining.
“Civilian research could support a strengthened Chinese military presence in the Arctic Ocean, which could include deploying submarines to the region as a deterrent against nuclear attacks,” the report said.
China’s military has made modernizing its submarine fleet a high priority and currently operates four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, six nuclear-powered attack submarines and 50 conventionally powered attack submarines, the report said.
“The speed of growth of the submarine force has slowed and [it] will likely grow to between 65 and 70 submarines by 2020,” it added.
China had built six Jin-class submarines, with four operational and two under construction at Huludao Shipyard, the report said.
In a January report, the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency said that the Chinese navy would need at least five Jin-class submarines to maintain a continuous nuclear deterrence at sea.
The US and its allies are expanding their anti-submarine naval deployments across East Asia, including stepped-up patrols of advanced, sub-hunting P-8 Poseidon planes out of Singapore and Japan.
The expansion of China’s submarine forces is just one element of a broad modernization of its military, which US experts have said is designed largely to deter any action by the US’ armed forces.
Although Beijing’s official defense budget for last year was US$175 billion, the Pentagon estimated that it actually topped US$200 billion when including research, development and foreign weapons procurement.
It estimated that China’s official defense budget would likely grow to about US$260 billion by 2022.
The Pentagon also said that it expects China to add military bases around the world to protect its Belt and Road Initiative investments.
Beijing currently has just one overseas military base, in Djibouti, but is believed to be planning others, including possibly Pakistan.
“China will seek to establish additional military bases in countries with which it has a long-standing friendly relationship and similar strategic interests, such as Pakistan, and in which there is a precedent for hosting foreign militaries,” the report said.
That effort could be constrained by other nations’ wariness of hosting a full-time presence of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the report said.
Target locations could include the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the western Pacific.
China already has well-armed outposts on contested atolls in the South China Sea.
Last year, there were reportedly discussions for a base in the Wakhan Corridor of northwest Afghanistan.
The Washington Post has also identified an outpost hosting many Chinese troops in eastern Tajikistan, near the strategic junction of the Wakhan Corridor, China and Pakistan.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or
RSS