{"id":62569,"date":"2021-02-18T06:00:35","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T19:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=62569"},"modified":"2021-02-17T17:15:26","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T06:15:26","slug":"the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"The port operators behind China\u2019s naval expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

The Chinese Communist Party\u2019s first leader, Mao Zedong, once said that \u2018political power grows out of the barrel of a gun<\/a>\u2019. Mao\u2019s words echo a fundamental truth of China\u2019s system of government\u2014that the ruling party has its own military wing, the People\u2019s Liberation Army. Soldiers in the PLA swear an oath to defend the CCP, not the Chinese nation, meaning that their primary task is to safeguard the interests of the party. The CCP\u2019s ultimate goal is to ensure that its influence over the nation becomes so totalising that the interests of the two are indistinguishable. In this respect, the PLA ends up serving the dual role of safeguarding the CCP and defending the Chinese nation.<\/p>\n

Just as the CCP has its own armed wing, it has its own commercial wings embedded in all of China\u2019s powerful state-owned enterprises. These SOEs operate in a hybrid fashion, seeking out business ventures that generate profits while carrying out the interests of the Chinese state. China\u2019s SOEs are legally required to have a party branch at the highest levels of the company hierarchy, and senior members of the board such as the managing director concurrently serve on the SOE\u2019s party committee. This organisational structure makes sure that any business ventures undertaken by the SOE serve the interests of the company, the state and, most importantly, the CCP.<\/p>\n

Xi Jinping has accelerated the party\u2019s dominance over the state, military, nation and business. Chinese companies are expected to do the party\u2019s work even if that means collaborating with its armed wing in the PLA or working with its political warfare agencies like the United Front Work Department. Under Xi Jinping\u2019s leadership, the CCP is seeking to apply its internal disciplinary code to Chinese SOEs strictly and extra-territorially.<\/p>\n

Our new ASPI report, Leaping across the ocean: The port operators behind China\u2019s naval expansion<\/em><\/a>, explores the links that two major Chinese maritime SOEs have with the CCP\u2019s organs of political influence, its disciplinary apparatus and its militarised branch, the PLA.<\/p>\n

COSCO and China Merchants, two companies that have taken a commanding position in overseas port operations and international maritime logistics, are subject to stringent control by the CCP and are increasingly willing to protect party interests overseas. A third of COSCO\u2019s employees are members of the CCP, and a member of its party committee was a party disciplinarian in China\u2019s Ministry of Public Security and the CCP\u2019s United Front Work Department. China Merchants also has deep links with the CCP. One member of China Merchants\u2019 party committee is a former deputy head of discipline inspection at the CCP General Office, and likely had a close working relationship with two current members of the Politburo Standing Committee.<\/p>\n

Xi\u2019s bid for total control over China\u2019s SOEs has profound implications for countries that are open to foreign investment. Before Xi, the national security risks posed by the CCP\u2019s integration into China\u2019s SOEs could be ameliorated by requiring investigation, transparency and disclosure during a country\u2019s foreign investment review process. These measures are no longer sufficient now that Xi has begun to strengthen his grip on the CCP and wield the coercive elements China\u2019s national power.<\/p>\n

Chinese companies are required by the country\u2019s domestic law to assist with intelligence collection and national defence mobilisation. We should expect China\u2019s SOEs to comply with any legitimate request by the CCP to assist with either mission in peace, war or the grey zone in between.<\/p>\n

Indeed, there\u2019s good evidence that such support is already being provided. For instance, COSCO operates its own militia, which is likely capable of conducting paramilitary activities such as maritime surveillance, counter-piracy missions and search-and-rescue operations. One of COSCO\u2019s joint ventures has also been involved in taking Chinese tourists near illegally built PLA facilities in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The company\u2019s involvement in the Greek port of Piraeus has also been supported by active-measures campaigns conducted by the United Front Work Department. COSCO appears to be developing the capability needed to comply with CCP requests to assist with intelligence operations, national defence mobilisation or grey-zone activities.<\/p>\n

Australia and its like-minded partners, including the US and Japan, can no longer take a reactive approach to the expansion of China\u2019s overseas port operations. Together, COSCO and China Merchants operate 36 ports around the world. If Chinese SOEs assume control of any more ports, Beijing will have secure access to some of the world\u2019s most crucial shipping nodes and logistics hubs. In wartime, that could significantly undermine the freedom of action that Australia or its allies would need to defend their maritime interests and sea lines of communication.<\/p>\n

More urgent, however, is the priority to build the resilience of countries that may be vulnerable to handing over critical infrastructure such as ports to Chinese SOEs. Coercion need not come from the PLA engaging in denial operations to secure access to a port shortly before a war breaks out or from an offensive cyberattack on a port\u2019s digital infrastructure. Under Xi, the CCP has proven all too willing to rely on organs such as the United Front Work Department to orchestrate active-measures campaigns designed to compromise a country\u2019s sovereign decision-making. Chinese SOEs may not be drivers behind such activities, but they offer the vehicles for them.<\/p>\n

Australia, Japan and the US have some of the tools needed to help build countries\u2019 resilience to coercion from the Chinese regime. They could begin by developing an international ports strategy through the \u2018blue-dot network\u2019, which was established in 2019 as a way of setting standards for high-quality infrastructure projects. Canberra, Tokyo and Washington should use the network to create a \u2018Michelin guide\u2019 for international port operations and investments. They could then post diplomatic personnel with expertise in critical infrastructure to agreed strategic locations around the world to promote blue-dot alternatives to investments backed by Chinese SOEs as well as advise on how to counter foreign interference.<\/p>\n

Australia and its partners don\u2019t have the power to change the nature of the CCP\u2014and competing with Beijing dollar-for-dollar is a non-starter. But what we can do is create a world that is more resilient to the coercive measures Xi has developed a habit of using. A diplomatic strategy geared towards achieving that goal would make it much harder for the CCP to continue finding the logistical hubs needed to increase the PLA\u2019s overseas presence and secure its success in wartime or grey-zone operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chinese Communist Party\u2019s first leader, Mao Zedong, once said that \u2018political power grows out of the barrel of a gun\u2019. Mao\u2019s words echo a fundamental truth of China\u2019s system of government\u2014that the ruling party …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":592,"featured_media":62570,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,1383,475,1538],"class_list":["post-62569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia","tag-ccp","tag-infrastructure","tag-port"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe port operators behind China\u2019s naval expansion | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The port operators behind China\u2019s naval expansion | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Chinese Communist Party\u2019s first leader, Mao Zedong, once said that \u2018political power grows out of the barrel of a gun\u2019. Mao\u2019s words echo a fundamental truth of China\u2019s system of government\u2014that the ruling party ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-17T19:00:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-17T06:15:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Lyons-Jones-and-Veit-cover.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"612\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"442\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Charlie Lyons Jones\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Charlie Lyons Jones\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Lyons-Jones-and-Veit-cover.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Lyons-Jones-and-Veit-cover.jpg\",\"width\":612,\"height\":442},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/\",\"name\":\"The port operators behind China\u2019s naval expansion | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-17T19:00:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-17T06:15:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/c1034d973a26db7223859549b44e49f2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The port operators behind China\u2019s naval expansion\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/c1034d973a26db7223859549b44e49f2\",\"name\":\"Charlie Lyons Jones\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7dea9586b5fc0e392383f53cc91fcae7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7dea9586b5fc0e392383f53cc91fcae7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Charlie Lyons Jones\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/charlie-lyons-jones\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The port operators behind China\u2019s naval expansion | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The port operators behind China\u2019s naval expansion | The Strategist","og_description":"The Chinese Communist Party\u2019s first leader, Mao Zedong, once said that \u2018political power grows out of the barrel of a gun\u2019. Mao\u2019s words echo a fundamental truth of China\u2019s system of government\u2014that the ruling party ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2021-02-17T19:00:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-02-17T06:15:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":612,"height":442,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Lyons-Jones-and-Veit-cover.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Charlie Lyons Jones","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Charlie Lyons Jones","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Lyons-Jones-and-Veit-cover.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Lyons-Jones-and-Veit-cover.jpg","width":612,"height":442},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/","name":"The port operators behind China\u2019s naval expansion | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2021-02-17T19:00:35+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-17T06:15:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/c1034d973a26db7223859549b44e49f2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-port-operators-behind-chinas-naval-expansion\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The port operators behind China\u2019s naval expansion"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/c1034d973a26db7223859549b44e49f2","name":"Charlie Lyons Jones","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7dea9586b5fc0e392383f53cc91fcae7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7dea9586b5fc0e392383f53cc91fcae7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Charlie Lyons Jones"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/charlie-lyons-jones\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62569"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/592"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62569"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62574,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62569\/revisions\/62574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}