China's Show of Force in ... the Arctic
if you feel the USA & Canada are being taunted, it is because we are
Alas, poor American icebreakers! I knew them, Shipmate: a fellow of infinite use, of most excellent capability: he hath borne me honor, commerce, and discovery a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it!
-Apologies to the Bard
When you have the world’s largest navy, you soon realize you can be everywhere, all at once, because you want to.
We all had fun at the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) navy and coast guard’s expense yesterday in Operation Bumper Boats, but now it is time to get back to serious things.
As we discussed six months ago, the PRC is not an Arctic nation. It has, at best, a tertiary concern with the Arctic. Just look at the chart at the top of last week’s post, no PRC coastline to be seen.
That isn’t stopping her.
While we continue to try to figure out a way to catch up in the icebreaker game, the PRC is already there.
They are not doing this for pure research; they are looking at how to leverage every corner of the planet for military and economic gain for themselves.
They have no other reason to be there.
Via Malte Humpert at gCaptain:
In a significant show of Arctic prowess, China has dispatched five icebreaking research vessels to the region. This is the first time the country has operated more than three icebreaking vessels in the Arctic simultaneously.
The flotilla is led by China’s largest domestically-built icebreaker Xue Long 2. The Polar Class 3 vessel departed from Shanghai on July 5. It has since been operating in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas adjacent to Alaska and Russia. Its ultimate destination is not currently known. Last summer the vessel concluded its Arctic sailing with a port visit to Russia’s largest Arctic city Murmansk. Both the U.S. Coast Guard and Canadian military have shadowed Xue Long 2’s activities in recent weeks.
Xue Long 2 was joined in the Arctic on July 30 by Shen Hai Yi Hao, an ice-class research vessel specialized on ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles) and AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) owned by China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association (COMRA). It carries the submersible Jiao Long designed for dives down to 7,000 meters. Shen Hai Yi Hao departed from Qingdao on July 16 and is currently operating in proximity of Xue Long 2 to the northwest of Alaska at the edge of Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.
As with so many problems in the maritime domain that were appreciated for decades, and action deferred to someone else’s PCS or election cycle, the “out years” are now.
More, faster, better, and while we are at it…make sure they are armed. The Arctic will be a war zone, and we will need to be ready at D+0.
And, to repeat myself: Number of ice-classed warships in the USN: Zero.
The obsession with petty and domestic matters and the lack of focus has been to our detriment as a Great Power.
How much was destroyed and spent in the urban crises inflamed by agitators in the past decade? Spent from the government coffers on witch-hunts against political opponents? On the world stage, we're all Americans, and those who hate us hate us all.