How China Uses Shipping for Surveillance and Control

Excerpt

Ninety percent of the world’s trade is shipped by sea, bringing finished goods, components, and commodities to markets around the globe. But maritime trade is not only critically important—it’s also fragile, easily disrupted by pandemics, port bottlenecks, or large ships getting stuck in canals. While maritime embargoes during wartime have been a staple of conflicts since the days of the Spanish Armada, today’s warfare won’t require a flotilla to keep essential goods from reaching their destination. Instead, adversaries can paralyze shipping by weaponizing information.

The Chinese government has spent the past three decades trying to gain access and influence in the open seas, strategic shipping lanes, and foreign ports in Asia and around the globe. China owns, co-owns, or operates some 96 foreign ports globally, with its portfolio constantly expanding—most recently in Hamburg, Germany, and the Solomon Islands. Of course, foreign ownership or control of ports and logistics operations is not an intrinsic hazard; companies from the Netherlands, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates own and operate dozens of overseas ports.

Elaine Dezenski is senior director and the head of the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. David Rader is a adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.