In this Tuesday, May 26, 2015 photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, meets with senior officers of Zhejiang Military Area Command during an inspection tour in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province when Xi had a three-day inspection tour in the province. Rapturous crowds. Beaming workers. Pep talks for the troops. The TV coverage Thursday, May 28 of Chinese president's recent visit to the eastern province was a tour de force of Communist propaganda, showcasing what's seen as an emerging cult of personality around the country's strongest leader in decades. (Li Gang/Xinhua via AP)Li Gang/The Associated Press
Colonel Steve Warren, the Pentagon's chief spokesperson, thanked the Chinese government for publishing its up-to-date military strategy this week – a gift a few days in advance of the Shangri-La Dialogue (named after a hotel in Singapore), an annual conference on security in the Asia-Pacific region being held this weekend.
At times, a reader may wonder if the English translation of China's new military strategy is intentionally awkward, in order to make some passages opaque.
But Col. Warren, the Pentagon flak, is right to welcome the document. It is good for great powers to have an understanding of each other's objectives. And China's new emphasis on what it calls "active defence" is an important development.
Presumably, the new emphasis will have consequences. The Chinese Navy has hitherto concerned itself with waters close to its coast, and China has only one aircraft carrier.
From now on, active defence will extend to the open seas as well, and to "China's overseas interests." Just how far overseas is not clear, but the white paper does speak of "oceans" in the plural.
Of course, the United States Navy has long been active close to the eastern coasts of Asia, and very far from the west coast of North America. Its main stated purpose is to preserve freedom of navigation, and also to protect long-time allies such as Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. So far, there is little in China's expanded activity that the U.S. can object to.
But there are a number of irritants over rocks, reefs and fishing grounds in the seas near, or not far from, China. Beijing has shown no interest in referring any of these disputes to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. What's more, China is turning some of those same rocks and reefs into inhabitable new islands – a tactless way of compounding such disputes.
The Pacific can be a fraught place. Taiwan is a constant issue, but the U.S. believes China has no current interest in invading that large island, or ability to do so. And now it has an even broader picture of Beijing's thinking.
Semi-accidental wars are much less likely to happen if great powers understand each other's motives and aims – let alone a third world war across the Pacific.