It is the Chinese container ship which is the warship which has already subdued the world, in a trade war.
Look around you, at the clothes you wear the furniture you sit on and most of the items you touch. The majority of them were made in China. By small degrees they have turned the art of manufacturing into a world dominating force. Industrial villages are built around manufacturing plants, where whole tower blocks of workers move as one at shift change time. The workers are getting better paid and want more, their domestic market is vast, but is still geared to export.
Could the world just decide not to buy Chinese? We could probably live without the inflatable Santa dolls but many of the shelves would be empty. Millions of stupid Brits don’t know or don’t care where their cheap toaster comes from, only that it’s cheap.
This industrial strength has given China a sense of rebirth. They talk now of an end to the years of humiliation and plan for the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Chinese Communist Party. Absolute loyalty to the party is demanded with any dissent quickly stifled. World dominance by 2049 is a possibility.
Those that belittle the growth of their modern armed forces clearly do not understand what they are for. As an example, the rapid growth of significant numbers of high-quality ships of all types, now exercising in complex all-arms evolutions are there to be seen. The training is realistic with risks accepted. China wants the world to know what it has, what it can do and how often.
Add to this a strong Chinese leadership aware of the dwindling effectiveness of many western politicians and you see China simply ignoring the UN when it pleases them, changing their boundaries, when it pleases them, always pushing.
There is no need for China to fight anyone, just for China to be in a position where no-one else will actually fight back. Taiwan is a lost cause, but they are not in a hurry. Eventually one flag will replace another and the sun will still rise and fall.
The self-proclaimed unrecognised 9 dashed line (or 11) in the South China Sea is still there and is not going away, there is a lot of posturing and probing but it is all too little – too late. The island reefs that matter are already occupied and fortified. A refuelling base will be built there to support operations in the Indian Ocean and beyond. What is the world to do?
Get used to it.
