Introduction
The Chinese Communists (ChiComs) are pursuing strategic initiatives aimed at achieve world economic domination: Belt-Road Initiative (and its related “Roads”) and Made in China 2025. Parts III, IV, and V of this series summarized those initiatives. To further the objectives in those initiatives, a number of intertwined secondary goals have been set by the Chinese Communist Party that are aimed at all spheres of human economic endeavors: trade, policy, regulations, legal, technology, etc. Their ultimate objective is economic dominance because that makes possible geopolitical and military dominance, and that ultimately leads to the ChiComs’ penultimate goal: world leadership in all human endeavors.
Secondary Goals of the Spider Dragon
Parts VII – XI of this series have covered 40 secondary goals being pursued in a coordinated fashion by Communist China. Several more are discussed below in this part of the series. All of these goals are synergistic and reinforce each other, comprising a gigantic “spider’s web” of interlocking goals and objectives all working toward the Spider Dragon’s world dominance ambitions.
Convert the South China Sea into a “Chinese lake”. The goal here is to seize control of natural resources in the area and to simultaneously intimidate its neighbors. Here is the reason why:
If modern-day geopolitical advantages are said to be shaped by three things, trade, natural resources, and supply chains, then all those three aspects are epitomized by who controls the South China Sea.
In terms of natural resources, the South China Sea has 11 billion barrels of oil, around 190 trillion feet of natural gas, 40 percent of global liquified natural gas (LNG), and 12 percent of the world’s fisheries, caught by 50 percent of all the fishing vessels globally. When it comes to trade, 30 percent of the world’s shipping trade flows through these waterways; that is around between $3-5 trillion worth of trade—or somewhere between the economies of India and Japan. Anything with the “Made in China” tag likely flows through this region.
Communist China is in direct competition with its neighbors for the control of resources in and around the South China Sea, particularly oil and gas reserves. The ChiComs have engaged in territorial disputes with Vietnam, the Philippines, and Japan (Senkaku/Diaoyu islands). The ChiComs believe the old adage that “possession is nine-tenths of the law” and have used that in their development of military installations in the disputed Spratly Islands and Paracel Islands (the PLA reinforces ChiCom territorial claims and intimidates other countries):
China has reclaimed extensive territory in the Spratly Islands. A 2016 report from the Pentagon estimates that China had built approximately 3,200 acres of artificial reefs in the island chain by the end of 2015
Though the Spratly Islands contain many reefs, China’s interests are concentrated on seven. The three large reefs—Mischief, Subi, and Fiery Cross—are similar in that they all have large anti-aircraft guns and close-in weapons systems. Each features helipads, long runways, and hangars capable of holding up to 24 fighter jets and several larger planes, including the largest in the Chinese fleet.
The Paracel Islands provide the Chinese with a defensive outpost approximately 200 miles southeast of the southern tip of Hainan Island, where China maintains a nuclear submarine base. Eight of the islands currently have some form of Chinese presence, with six containing at least radar capabilities.
The SAMs China installed on the reefs are mainly air area denial tools with a limited range of 124 miles, meant to shoot down incoming enemy planes. China’s planes spotted at these South China Sea installations have also been largely defensive (such as the J-11 fighter jet, which is used to maintain air superiority over the islands). The position of the reefs is also defensive: The location of the Paracel Islands gives China the ability to block Taiwanese or Philippine access to its Hainan submarine base.
However, it is possible that Chinese involvement on these reefs could progress from a defensive nature to a more offensive one. The occasional presence of Xian JH-7 fighter bombers and the construction of large harbors that can accommodate the largest ships in the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s fleet indicate China’s interest in demonstrating that it could, if provoked, carry out future attacks from these islands.
There is a legal dimension in the South China Sea that is part of the frontline struggle between Communist China and the rest of the world. The ChiComs are not enthusiastic supporters of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea, which lays out maritime laws that the rest of the world generally adheres to. The ChiComs write their own laws in regard to territorial limits and other conventions in the treaty, and PLA/PLA-N intimidation increasingly enforces their claims. The right of free passage in UNCLOS-defined international waters in the strait of Taiwan (also called “freedom of navigation”) is increasingly challenged by the PLA-Navy through ship-to-ship confrontations. It is particularly interesting that even the French, British, and Germans recognize the need to maintain free passage in the SCS to deny Communist China’s aims to intimidate and control all countries in the region. Those nations realize that freedom of navigation and UNCLOS must be constantly reinforced and defended, else the ChiComs will encroach elsewhere in the future if they are successful in their SCS gambit.
Promote “collective prosperity” through total control of the private sector. Collective prosperity is another one of those meaningless Marxist euphemisms that sound good as they roll off the tongue but whose meaning is murky and obfuscated. The ChiComs have been using it to describe their domestic efforts to deliver improved living standards through the “wise leadership” of ChiCom collectivism. Except that collectivism and economic growth are like oil and water over the long haul. Nevertheless, the ChiComs seek to exploit ChiCom-controlled businesses at home and abroad to reduce equality domestically and facilitate ChiCom geopolitical goals overseas. This is done through ideological purification of business leaders in line with ChiCom political objectives, as noted in this Thursday article from The New York Times:
Like many things in China, efficiency comes at the cost of law and due process. The Communist Party made it clear last year that it needs “politically sensible people” in the private sector who will “firmly listen to the party and follow the party.” They should contribute more to the longevity of the Communist Party and help make China great again, the party said.
The message, people in the tech industry said, is that businesses need to prove that they’re useful and helpful in advancing the government’s goals while avoiding causing trouble.
As China’s economic growth slows and opportunities dwindle, the country’s rising inequality is becoming a time bomb in the eyes of the party, which is paranoid about social unrest and any skepticism about its legitimacy. And the tech companies are increasingly being blamed for the wealth gap, with their founders criticized as villains who take advantage of consumers and force their employees to work long hours
Market capitalism is beyond the understanding of “ChiCom economists” (an oxymoron if there ever was one), and tech companies in particular thrive on rapid innovation and a nimbleness in marking market decisions – the antithesis of ChiCom obsession with risk avoidance. The CCP understands control and Marxist ideology and use businesses as geopolitical pawns to achieve their objectives. And that means that achieving equity goals and rising standards of living for Chinese citizens will come at the expense of Chinese-controlled conglomerates.
Exploit the natural resources in the deep seabed. Like all heavily-industrialized countries, Communist China is continually in search of natural sources it can control and/or exploit inexpensively. This is particularly true in terms of rare earth minerals that are increasingly important in industrial production processes, including in the US as noted here (emphasis added):
[R]are earth elements (REE) are the 15 elements in the lanthanide series shown in the periodic table. Scandium and yttrium are included in the manufacture of cell phones, LED screens, solar panels, energy infrastructure, defense technologies, and other essential high-tech applications. The U.S. currently imports 80% of its REEs directly from China, with remaining portions indirectly sourced from China through other countries.
The seabed is also a potentially rich source of oil and gas; elements like cobalt, copper, and nickel, too, all of which are important in industrial production. There is no problem with the ChiCom motivation to obtain these natural resources, per se. It is how they are going about doing so and what they do with their dominance in rare earth element production that are of concern. Communist China has a stranglehold on REE production and seeks to dominate new REE sources, including those on the deep seabed. Control of REE production provides considerable economic and geopolitical leverage with other industrial nations through “supply chain disruption,” particularly the REE-poor European Union nations.
The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is the U.N organization that is writing the rules for exploring and exploiting mineral resources on the seabed in international waters as defined by UNCLOS:
Part XI of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) defines the “Area” that the treaty has the authority to regulate. This includes all seabed, ocean floor, and subsoil outside of national jurisdictions. UNCLOS gives the ISA the authority to establish the rules and regulations governing exploration and exploitation of the resources found in the Area. Membership in the ISA mirrors signatories of UNCLOS, including 168 countries.
The ChiComs have publicly announced their intentions to exploit the resources in the seabed. And there is a military element involved, too, as reported here:
In February 2016, China began laying the predicate for exploitation of deep seabed resources with the passage of the PRC Law on Exploration and Development of Resources in Deep Sea Seabed Areas. In the 12th (2011-2015) and 13th (2016-2020) Five Year Plans, China prioritized “promoting commercialization of deep-sea mining, manufacturing of deep-sea equipment and utilization of deep-sea bioresources.” Beijing already leads the world in the number of deep-sea mining contracts undertaken, with more likely to follow given the breadth of its surveying efforts and the level of interest shown by senior Chinese Communist Party officials.
Beijing is following a familiar pattern in its focus on the deep seabed. Senior officials are publicly extolling the economic importance of dominance in a particular underutilized domain, and connecting it explicitly to China’s broader role in the world.
China’s interest in economic dominance of the deep seabed has a significant military component. In 2018, a Ministry of National Defense document identified the domains relevant to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for future global operations. In addition to traditional domains like land, air, sea, and space, the document called for “confrontation activities” in areas including quantum, artificial intelligence, and, revealingly, the deep sea.
As usual, ChiCom economic and geopolitical objectives are intertwined. Control of economic resources leads to geopolitical leverage, as well as an expansion of PLA/PLA-N growth and influence.
Subvert international green advocates while masking domestic economic expansion. Last year, Communist Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that the country will achieve “net zero emissions” by 2060. This announcement was greeted with much fanfare by green energy advocates around the world. And according to state-run Global Times, the ChiComs are now “all-in” on the greenies’ crackpot scheme of carbon trading:
China’s national carbon market, the largest emissions trading system (ETS) in the world, was officially launched on Friday, marking a milestone for the nation’s institutional innovation in pushing ahead green development and a crucial step for the country to decarbonize its economy by 2060.
But are the ChiComs really, really serious, or is this just another of their headfakes? The Gatestone Institute has the ChiComs’ green energy gambit figured out. It’s all about reducing US competitiveness while increasing Communist China’s competitive advantage and expanding the world’s dependency on ChiCom manufacturing and production:
- If China were serious about reducing emissions, that intent would have been evident from its new five-year plan for the years 2021-2025, released in March. This plan, however, has been described as containing “little more than vague commitments to tackle carbon dioxide emissions.”
- As the Wall Street Journal wrote in an editorial in February, initiatives like this explain why “Beijing loves Biden and Paris”. They allow China, in the words of the editorial, to get “a free carbon ride” — meaning unfettered economic growth at a time when China is looking to become the world’s dominant economic and technological power.
- How much will fulfilling President Biden’s climate accord pledges actually cost and for what actual benefit to whom, and how much of a further edge will it actually give to China?
- At a time when China is so obviously saying one thing and doing another, and clearly not fulfilling its share of the world’s commitments to reducing CO2 emissions — as the world’s second-largest economy should — increasing America’s climate pledges sends all the wrong signals. What China and others see is that no matter what it does — even if it deceives the world and continues its predatory behavior — the US is willing to reduce its own competitiveness, leaving China a thick red carpet to become the world’s dominant superpower, the very role to which it aspires.
And here is the proof of that pudding:
China’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 exceeded those of the U.S. and the rest of the world’s developed nations combined for the first time.
A report published … by the energy consulting firm Rhodium Group found that China was responsible for 27% of global emissions, far exceeding those of the U.S. with the second highest at 11%, and India in third at 6.6%.
Then there is the little-known fact that Communist China is the world’s largest carbon emitter and has commissioned more coal-fired capacity in 2020 than the rest of the world retired:
China’s coal boom in 2020 more than offset the retirements in coal capacity in the rest of the world, leading to the first increase in global coal capacity development since 2015, a report led by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) found.
China commissioned 38.4 gigawatts (GW) of new coal plants in 2020, offsetting the record-tying 37.8 GW of coal capacity retired last year, the report showed.
China’s coal boom accounted for 76 percent of the global 50.3 GW new coal capacity.
Only the Western greenies believe ChiCom propaganda that China will achieve “net zero emissions” by 2060. The rest of us know that it’s just another feint in the ChiComs’ scheming to achieve world economic dominance.
Conclusion. The list of secondary the interlocking Spider Dragon’s goals is seemingly endless. And why wouldn’t it be since the West is providing the resources for the ChiComs to explore every possible opportunity to eat our collective lunch? Whatever goals that they can concoct are being pursued synergistically in parallel in order to achieve the objectives they have publicly announced to the world in the Belt-Road Initiative and Made in China 2025 initiative, as well as at the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party held every five years. Inexorable, relentless, and seemingly irresistible.
The end.
If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN:
Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
CloutHub: AFNN_USA