China's Quest for Great Power

This book examines China's national security strategy by looking at the threemajor elements-foreign policy, energy security, and naval power-allinteractive and major influences on China's future and its relations with theUnited States. A decade and a half into the twenty-first century, Beijing requires reliableaccess to energy resources, the navy to defend that access, and foreignpolicies to navigate safely toward its goals. Most importantly, the People'sLiberation Army-Navy (PLAN) must be able to safeguard China's regionalmaritime interests, especially the sovereignty disputes involving Taiwan andthe Yellow, East China, and South China Seas.

Many Chinese naval officersand analysts think the United States is determined to contain China andprevent it from achieving the dominant historical position to which it is entitled.This view has been strengthened by Washington's shift to Asia, transfer ofnaval units to the Pacific, and the March 2015 Maritime Strategy released bythe U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. China's relationship with the United States is vital to both countries and to theworld.

The relationship is based on both common and divergent interests ineconomics, military operations, and political goals and methods. China'sinternational trading economy and ambition for a world-class navy requireeffective foreign diplomacy and participation in global affairs. This policytrifecta in large part defines China's posture to the world.

Beijing isapproximately halfway toward its mid-century goal of deploying a navy capableof defending China's perceived maritime interests. China's priorities followPresident Xi Jinping's definition of national security as "comprehensive,encompassing politics, the military, the economy, technology, the environmentand culture." What this means for future Chinese foreign policy choices, asnaval modernization and energy security concerns enable different courses ofaction, lies at the center of this book's conclusions.