Research on the Evolution of China's Sea Power Consciousness

Sea power is the sovereignty of sea area and the national maritime rights and interests. The abbreviation of the right to safeguard blue homeland security. As the name implies, it is the right to control and use the ocean or sea area, but the scope of this right involves military, political, economic and other fields, and the issue of sea power has now become an urgent and important issue in China. Chinese civilization has been a river civilization since ancient times, emphasizing farming economy. The long-term political system has also prompted China to pay more attention to land rights. However, in recent years, due to the increasingly prominent maritime issues and the rising dispute over sea power, it is inevitable that China will change from a land power to a maritime power.

The importance of sea power is self-evident, and the rise of China cannot be separated from sea power. China's land area ranks third in the world, and it also has a maritime territory not less than the land area: * * owns 1 0.8 million square kilometers of coastline,110,000 islands and nearly 3 million square kilometers of maritime territory. China's position as a maritime power is beyond doubt. Its importance, I think, has four points.

1 Citizens don't understand the concept of sea power and pay insufficient attention to it.

According to the survey, 7% people think that sea power is China's maritime rights and interests according to law. Including the exclusive rights of navigation, aquaculture, fishing and exploitation of oil, natural gas and mineral resources in territorial waters and exclusive economic zones, while only 15.9% of the respondents believe that sea power is the right to control the ocean. In the United States, Americans generally believe in the creed that "whoever controls the ocean controls everything." Therefore, China people should strengthen their understanding of the importance of sea power, which determines China's position and role in international politics, military economy and diplomatic arena to a certain extent.

2 relying on sea power to rise as a great power strategy is universal

Judging from the trajectory of the rise of great powers in the past 500 years, paying attention to sea power is the way to rise. The rise of Portugal and Spain originated from the coming of the era of great navigation. By opening up new routes and discovering the new continent, global material circulation and predatory trade were realized. Then came the rise of the Netherlands and Britain. The construction of "sea coachman" and "not falling empire" also benefited from the use of marine strategy to implement global trade.

Visible, in such a powerful country's political chessboard, China can't ignore the sea power. As a land power, China had a glorious history, but it was finally broken by a maritime power and reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. In this regard, China must get rid of the shackles of land rights, and at the same time, through "sea power and land power walking on two legs", realize the more open and multi-dimensional rise of China as a big country.

The sea power strategy is in line with the actual interests of China.

(1) From the analysis of severe and complicated geopolitical crisis, China urgently needs to attach importance to its sea power strategy. With the expansion of the Diaoyu Islands incident and the dispute over oil and gas fields in the East China Sea, the buffer space of China's maritime territory has been compressed and eroded. In addition, China has territorial disputes with ASEAN countries in the South China Sea Islands. For China's core interests, only when sea power is liberated from the bondage of land power can this geopolitical crisis be broken through the expansion of ocean-going military forces, thus forming an Asia-Pacific game board with balanced interests, and China can revive the dilemma of development and rise.

(2) With the globalization of China's energy strategy, the importance of China's protection of "maritime lifeline" through a strong sea power strategy has been put on the agenda. At present, China's petroleum energy mainly comes from Persian Gulf, Africa and South America. The Straits of Malacca is tantamount to holding the throats of East Asian countries. In recent years, the construction of the Kelaxixia Canal in Thailand has greatly helped to prevent the "Malacca Dilemma" and ensure the energy stability of China. As a big energy consuming country, China must be able to ensure the smooth flow of offshore energy, otherwise the rise of a big country will be empty talk.

(3) From the perspective of trade security, marine strategy is also an urgent and wise choice. As an important trading country in the world, China is highly dependent on foreign trade, and more than 95% of its foreign trade is realized by sea. China's ocean-going shipbuilding capacity is also in a strong position in the world. In this case, without the development of sea power, it is impossible to ensure its trade security. Without trade security, China's export-oriented leading economy will stagnate, which will inevitably lead to the stagnation of China's economy. For the sake of trade security, China must have a strong naval force to escort it.

China's sea power strategy is in line with regional interests.

China actively integrated into the Asian economic circle and established strategic partnerships with Japan and South Korea respectively. At the same time, keep close contact with ASEAN countries and hold "10+ 1" meetings for a long time. As the most dynamic and important country in East Asia, China should of course adapt to the needs of marine strategy. Only in this way can we maintain regional stability and conform to regional interests.

So, how did China's sea power evolve from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the present? As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, the vassal states located in the east of China conquered each other by sea. Fu Cha, the king of Wu, sent troops from the sea twice to conquer Qi, and both sides also conducted large-scale naval battles. This is because princes have realized that they can expand their power through the ocean. During the Han and Tang dynasties, with the appearance of shipbuilding technology and the situation of great unification, the Han and Tang regimes began to use maritime forces frequently in the process of expanding territory and maintaining national stability. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent a fleet of 53 people to cross the sea from Shandong Peninsula, and later established four counties in the East China Sea. Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty sent Fu Bo general Ma Yuan to lead more than 20,000 soldiers and put down the rebellion on more than 2,000 ships. During the period, the Tang and Silla allied forces defeated the Japanese and Baekje allied forces in the naval battle of Baijiangkou on the Korean peninsula.

Zheng He's voyage to the Western Seas in the Ming Dynasty is generally regarded as the peak of China's ancient sea power development. During the decline of the Ming Dynasty, pirates ran rampant along the southeast coast; Qi Jiguang's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression also relied on naval battles to a great extent, relying on tenacious shipbuilding technology, firearms advantages and naval traditions to defeat the Japanese pirates and ensure the country's long-term stability.

The successful recovery of Taiwan Province Province by Zheng Zheng in the Qing Dynasty and the return of Taiwan Province Province, the treasure island in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, all reflected the importance of maritime operations.

Li Hongzhang, minister of Beiyang and governor of Zhili, has always attached great importance to the defense of offshore areas. 19 In the mid-1970s, the national defense strategy of the Qing Dynasty was changed to offshore defense. Thus, the Beiyang Navy was established. In fact, behind the prosperity of the modern western navy, there are developed military industrial systems and overseas colonial systems as support, while the natural economy and weak industries in the late Qing Dynasty cannot support a powerful modern navy for a long time. In contrast, while aiming at the modernization of the navy, Japan has also made efforts to strengthen industrial and commercial modernization and overseas expansion, benefiting from the sea, ensuring the durability of the navy's national defense construction on the economic and industrial basis, which is in line with the modernization development strategy.

From the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 to the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, China intellectuals began to reflect on naval construction and national sea power. The government of the Republic of China put forward a large-scale shipbuilding plan, and the "First Ship Building Plan" put forward in 19 13 only planned to build 30 cruisers. However, due to the weak national industry at that time, this plan could only be limited to enthusiasm, and in fact it was impossible to pursue the goal of safeguarding sea power. The whole society, including decision makers, also has a gradual process of understanding sea power.

At one time, "sea power" was not a clear concept in China. In the Encyclopedia of China Navy, he wrote: "The theory of sea power appeared when capitalism entered the era of imperialism. It adapts to the needs of imperialist aggression and expansion and competes for spheres of influence and world hegemony. " "(Sea power theory) is still an integral part of the military thinking of some countries, and some of its views are still accepted by some countries, which is still worthy of in-depth study and reference by maritime countries."

After the reform and opening up, marine issues and the concept of sea power have gradually become the focus of attention of society and professionals. One of the reasons is the need of reform and opening up and social and economic development. The ocean itself is not only an important source of natural resources, but also carries most of China's import and export trade. Whether it is the import of mineral resources or the export of commodities, most of them rely on shipping. Throughout history, when the importance of maritime trade to a country rises to such a position, it will naturally prompt it to seriously consider the issue of sea power.

On the other hand, external factors have also become an important motivation for thinking about sea power issues. In the past 30 years, a series of incidents in the waters around China have made the issue of ocean and sea power increasingly concerned by China officials and society.

At present, there is a serious sea power problem in China. The survey level of marine geology and mineral resources in China is still very low, especially the research and development ability of marine high technology is still quite weak. Developed maritime countries have done a lot of work on the investigation and study of their exclusive economic zones. However, China's work in this area is still insufficient. Part of the rights and interests of China's southeast waters have been plundered by other countries for a long time (China's total maritime rights and interests are 4.73 million square kilometers, but China's actual control area is only 800,000 square kilometers). These countries (such as Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, etc. ) openly plundered China's marine resources. Nearly half of China's 3 million square kilometers of sea area is disputed: islands and reefs are occupied, sea areas are divided and marine resources are plundered. China's eight maritime neighbors have made unreasonable demands on China's maritime rights and interests to varying degrees, involving more than 6,543,800 square kilometers of sea area. According to the 50-year period, before September 2020, if China can't control these islands, it will mean giving up its sovereignty over these sea areas.

At present, the sea power problem in China is quite serious. It is necessary to build a powerful ocean deterrent. The development of China needs China to actively safeguard its sea power. In this regard, we should:

1. The most fundamental way to safeguard China's sea power is to vigorously develop productive forces and economy. Only by "laying a solid foundation" can a country "keep fit", and vigorously developing productive forces will lay a solid foundation for China to establish a powerful maritime deterrent.

2. Establish a modern navy with high-tech support and strong maritime combat and strike capabilities. Conducting military exercises at the right time to deter some countries with bad intentions towards China's maritime territory shows that those who commit China will be punished even if they are far away.

3. Intensify the publicity of marine knowledge, let the people have sound marine knowledge, form a strong public opinion, form a strong public opinion to safeguard sea power, and form a national United front to safeguard sea power.

4. Strengthen the development of marine resources, turn resource advantages into economic advantages, let people see tangible economic benefits, and let people recognize the behavior of safeguarding sea power.

5. Make use of diplomatic means to win the support of the participating countries for China's policies and actions to safeguard sea power at United Nations meetings, and make it a recognized act to safeguard justice.

6. In the process of safeguarding China's sea power, we should give priority to peace as much as possible, but we should reserve the right to use force when necessary.