Faced with China’s accelerated naval construction, the United States is seeking help from South Korean and Japanese shipbuilders to revive its dormant naval shipyards and improve its maritime competitiveness.
U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos del Toro last week visited shipyards operated by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, South Korea, and Hanwha Marine Corp. in Geoje Island.
One executive said he encouraged executives at these companies to establish subsidiaries and “invest” resources in integrating U.S. commercial and naval shipbuilding facilities. statement by the Navy.
In a speech at Harvard University in September, del Toro called for a “new maritime statecraft” to prevail in an era of fierce strategic competition.
A Navy statement issued during del Toro’s trip to East Asia called South Korea’s shipbuilding industry “an asset” to the United States “as China continues its aggressive pursuit of global shipbuilding dominance.”
“In addition to our currently active shipyards, there are many former shipyard sites across the country that remain largely intact and dormant,” the report added.
During the tour, del Toro said the facilities were ready for redevelopment to produce military and commercial ships.
Yokohama Shipyard
Following a trip to South Korea last week, Del Toro traveled to Japan, where he visited Mitsubishi Shipyard in Yokohama and discussed efforts to revive the U.S. maritime industry with leading shipbuilding executives, the Navy said in a separate report. statement.
The meetings “underscore the United States’ strategic efforts to strengthen alliances with allies and enhance technological and industrial cooperation,” said Matthew Funaiol, a senior fellow in the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“China may be the world’s largest shipbuilder, but South Korea and Japan are second and third respectively,” Funaole continued via email on Tuesday.
China has the largest number of naval vessels in the world, surpassing the U.S. Navy in 2014. According to a Pentagon report released in October, China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has more than 370 combat ships compared to the U.S. Navy 292.
The Pentagon report also stated that the Chinese Navy is expected to have 395 ships by 2025 and 435 ships by 2030.
According to the U.S. Naval Institute, China accounts for nearly 50% of the global shipbuilding market, followed by South Korea and Japan, which account for nearly 30% and 17% respectively. U.S. production capacity is only 0.13%.
“It’s clear that the United States cannot keep up with China’s naval modernization in terms of the number and cost of producing ships, whether surface ships or submarines,” said Zach Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Defense Department official. Official during the George W. Bush administration.
“One way to address this shortfall is to work more closely with allies and partners, try to field more ships, or transfer some maintenance responsibilities to other actors,” he told VOA via email on Wednesday.
anti-competition protection
Cooper, however, said opportunities for collaboration “have to be balanced against opposition” from U.S. shipbuilders, who are protected by the Jones Act from foreign competitors.
Passed in 1920 in response to German submarine attacks on the U.S. merchant marine during World War I, the act required any ship carrying cargo between two points in the United States to be built, owned, and crewed by Americans, and Registered in the United States
Terrance Roehrig, a professor of national security at the U.S. Naval War College, said the U.S. lacks “the shipbuilding capability to produce the required number of ships at a sustainable cost.”
“The United States will have difficulty matching the size of China’s navy, but the United States retains advantages in technology and weapons systems and in certain classes of ships, including aircraft carriers and submarines,” he continued via email on Tuesday.
Roehrig added that investments from South Korea and Japan could help the United States improve its ability to catch up with China.
The U.S. Navy currently operates public shipyards in Norfolk, Virginia; Portsmouth, Maine; Puget Sound, Washington; and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. From the 1960s to the 1990s, seven public shipyards closed.
Seven shipyards owned by four U.S. contractors build warships for the Navy, while China operates more than 20 shipyards to support naval shipbuilding, according to the U.S. Naval Institute.
“The gap in shipbuilding capabilities can be attributed to several factors, including China’s accelerated military modernization through dual-use applications, China’s strategic focus on prioritizing the development of its navy to safeguard maritime interests, and the effective use of its commercial and industrial capabilities,” Funaiole said.
He went on to say that the United States should warn its international partners not to engage with Chinese commercial shipbuilders.
“These entities often enhance China’s military power through a civil-military fusion strategy” that seeks to remove barriers between the commercial, scientific and military sectors to enhance its defense capabilities.
Follow us on Google news ,Twitter , and Join Whatsapp Group of thelocalreport.in
