Window on Washington: Big Trouble in Little China

This article originally appeared in the Second Quarter 2019 Benedict’s Maritime Bulletin. Reprinted with permission. Any opinions in this article are not those of Winston & Strawn or its clients. The opinions in this article are the author’s opinions only.

Over the last decade, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has increasingly turned its eyes toward the sea—looking to protect and control essential trade lanes, establish a protective perimeter off its coast which envelops Taiwan, develop force projection capabilities, and ensure dominion over near sea resources. By 2015, China’s Military Strategy declared:

The traditional mentality that land out-weighs sea must be abandoned and great importance has to be attached to managing the seas and oceans and protecting maritime rights and interest. It is necessary for China to develop a modern maritime military force structure commensurate with its national security and development interests, safeguard its national sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, protect the security of strategic SLOCs (sea lines of communication) and overseas interests, and participate in international cooperation so as to provide strategic support for building itself into a maritime power.

The CCP’s maritime and expansionist goals have not gone unnoticed in Washington. Opening a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in March 2019, new Chairman Senator Jim Risch (R-ID) stated ‘‘Today, China steals our intellectual property and uses it to put our people out of work. It intimidates its neighbors, including close U.S. allies while increasing its military capabilities in the South and East China Seas. China exports corruption and its authoritarian model across the globe. It uses cheap financing as a debt trap, and has built a police state that the Chinese Communist Party uses to limit free expression that contradicts the party line.’’ Senator Risch’s concerns are shared by many U.S. lawmakers.

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