{"id":60801,"date":"2016-11-20T03:31:35","date_gmt":"2016-11-20T10:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=60801"},"modified":"2017-08-08T13:43:59","modified_gmt":"2017-08-08T20:43:59","slug":"the-repulic-of-china-and-contemporary-sri-lanka-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/11\/20\/the-repulic-of-china-and-contemporary-sri-lanka-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA AND CONTEMPORARY SRI LANKA (Part 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA\u00a0 PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

The most important feature in international politics today, is the rising power of China. China\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 is admired for its economic performance. No single country in recent times has alleviated the poverty of so many in so short a time as China, say economists.\u00a0 China\u2019s purchasing power will soon exceed that of the US. China\u00a0 controls the jade mines of Burma \u00a0\u00a0and has over USD 250\u00a0 billion in investments in South and Central America.<\/p>\n

China is economically and politically very strong. China can easily provide world leadership. Germany, Japan, New Zealand and Australia\u00a0\u00a0 have pointed out that if US withdraws from its role as world military leader, China will fill the gap. China has made it very clear that both Hong Kong and Taiwan are part of the Republic of China and the world must accept China\u2019s \u2018One China Policy\u2019.<\/p>\n

As Western banks withdraw, their Chinese counterparts, with abundant capital and\u00a0 long-term perspectives, are providing the\u00a0 loans. Chinese lenders are fast becoming global leaders in ship financing, while western banks are reducing or exiting their shipping loan portfolios, because of the strict capital requirement regulations\u00a0 now in force, as the world’s shipping industry faces its worst downturn in three decades.\u00a0 Bank of China, the Export-Import Bank of China, and China Development Bank, ranking sixth, eighth and 15th, have provided loan volumes of $18.5 billion, $15.8 billion and $11 billion respectively.<\/p>\n

China has entered the shipping finance market at an opportune time. Ship asset valuations are already at a historical low, hence risks for a further fall in value are minimized. This Chinese intervention is very helpful, it comes at a difficult time,” said\u00a0 a shipping finance expert, despite the current low valuation on shipping assets, over the long term at least some sectors of shipping are expected to generate solid returns.<\/p>\n

Currently, many shipping assets, which are fundamentally sound from a long-term perspective, are competing for sources of financing, so it is a good opportunity for Chinese banks to select\u00a0 solid shipping assets to finance. Critics, however, are concerned about the increasing shipping credit being provided by Chinese banks, warning that cheap capital provided by Chinese financiers may lead to an oversupply of ships. Chinese banks must study the quality and specification of the ships they finance carefully and make sure the deals are structured appropriately.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s defence budget has increased by double digits almost every year for the last two decades. The International Institute for Strategic Studies \u00a0(IISS)said China’s official defence budget of $145 billion\u00a0 in 2016 was 1.8 times higher than those of South Korea and Japan combined. China accounted for more than a third of Asia’s total military spending in 2016.<\/p>\n

China has\u00a0 worked towards acquiring the kind of high-level, high-value military assets that the United States has used against it in the past. China’s military progress shows that Western dominance in the field of advanced weapons systems can no longer be taken for granted,” reported the International Institute for Strategic Studies.<\/p>\n

China is beginning to export its own weapon designs, including armed drones, worldwide and is reaching “near-parity” with the West in terms of military technology. Chinese military exports to Africa last year were moving from the sale of Soviet-era designs to the export of systems designed in China.\u00a0 Chinese-made armed drones had been seen in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.\u00a0 With China\u00a0 planning to sell more abroad, Western forces may confront more advanced military systems, in more places, and operated by a broader range of adversaries.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0 International Institute for Strategic Studies\u00a0\u00a0 said in 2017\u00a0 that China appears to be reaching near-parity with the West in terms of air power. China had introduced a type of short-range missile that “only a handful of leading aerospace nations are able to develop”. China was also developing “what could be the world’s longest range air-to-air missile”. One of China’s air-to-air missiles had no Western equivalent.<\/p>\n

China was also constructing its first domestically built carrier and reportedly working on another. Military experts say that within a little more than a decade, China\u2019s Navy may have more warships than Washington under its command. According to some estimates, over the next 10 to 15 years, China could build its naval \u00a0fleet to a total of 500, including up to four aircraft carriers and 100 submarines as well as smaller but sophisticated corvettes, patrol boats and other combat craft. The US ship \u2018Carl Vinson \u2018showed America\u2019s military might as it sailed through the disputed waters of the South China Sea, but\u00a0 In the event of an actual war, however, it is far from clear how long such a massive vessel would survive before being sunk, said experts.<\/p>\n

Beijing\u2019s military buildup is part of its strategy to dominate the \u00a0disputed territories in the South China Sea \u2013 and push America back. Many analysts believe China now possesses enough weapons technology, submarines, missiles and strike aircraft in particular, that US planners would be reluctant to risk their carriers that close to China\u2019s coast again. China now plans to expand its military \u00a0reach to\u00a0 energy-rich atolls and islands claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.<\/p>\n

China views India with disdain, considering it backward and chaotic.\u00a0 China thinks India can be easily dissolved into its regional parts. China\u2019s economic worth is five times more than that of India. China had a surplus of USD 35 billion over India in China-India trade in\u00a0 2014\u00a0 China has replaced India as the primary destination of outsourcing and shared service for Asia -Pacific companies.\u00a0 Chinese scientists have increased their research output at a far faster rate than those in India. India has\u00a0 \u00a0also lost its position as protector of Nepal.\u00a0 China has signed an agreement which\u00a0 allows Nepal to use Chinese harbors and roads for supplies.\u00a0 Those ports and roads are far away but there is hostility to India in Nepal.<\/p>\n

China has managed to settle boundary questions\u00a0 with 12 neighbouring countries, including Russia and Vietnam. China has settled its\u00a0\u00a0 borders with all neighboring countries except India, where it is keeping the border issue simmering. China does not recognise the \u2018illegal\u2019 McMahon line on India \u2013China border. This was agreed by British and Tibet as part of the 1914 Simla accord. Both China and Delhi claim chunks of territory which are now in the opposite hands. Contested territories included a sliver of Kashmir and Arunchal Pradesh. China wants certain parts on the western and eastern sector of Arunchal Pradesh which are at present under India. China says these areas are within China’s traditional border with India.<\/p>\n

China is not opposed to India\u2019s rise, and does not subscribe to the view that Sino-Indian rivalry is unavoidable.\u00a0 China will neither see India as its rival nor contain India\u2019s development, said a spokesman. Responsible Indian politicians should not treat China as a competitor or target of containment. In the eyes of China, even if there are some competition between China and India, they are healthy competitions that will eventually help both countries develop and progress, instead of political and strategic competitions and zero-sum games.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s \u00a0One Belt One Road Initiative, (OBOR)\u00a0 started in 2013, has received support from over 100 countries and international organizations, with nearly 50 cooperation agreements signed between governments. This initiative will connect Asia with Europe, and create new trade corridors, experts said. There will be a maze of roads and ports for China to trade its goods and services.\u00a0 China built Kuaukpyu port in Burma and a pipeline to carry oil to China.\u00a0 This created a gateway to China from Bay of Bengal.<\/p>\n

China has invested over USD 50 billion in the countries along the Silk Road.\u00a0 China has launched a USD 40 billion Silk Road fund to finance the projects. Observers also note that an efficient and productive Chinese shipping industry will support China\u2019s One Belt One Road vision. Many see OBOR as a good thing. There will be robust medium-term growth as global trade increasingly centers around China, say experts. China has invested in Greece’s Piraeus Port and Turkey’s Kumport. OBOR will boost Eurasia\u2019s connectivity and international seaborne trade.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA\u00a0 PIERIS The most important feature in international politics today, is the rising power of China. China\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 is admired for its economic performance. No single country in recent times has alleviated the poverty of so many in so short a time as China, say economists.\u00a0 China\u2019s purchasing power will soon exceed that of the US. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}