On Seapower In The Post-Cold War Era

This paper studies sea power since the end of the Cold War. Sea power is social existence with a long history; in fact, it can be traced back to the era of Greek city-states. In essence, sea power means the ability to control and use the ocean, especially public waters. In the traditional sense, it is mainly associated with the high seas. Since1890, when American naval officer Alfred Thayer Mahan put forward "the theory of sea power", theories and doctrines about sea power have become a strategic genre as well as an important part of geopolitical theories, with a profound impact on the history of international relations. After Mahan,Corbett,Gorshkov, Lehman and other researchers discussed and explored the elements, influence, composition and evolution of sea power, which they referred to with different names, so that the concept of sea power has become better known around the world.Since the history of international relations entered the post-Cold War era, the meaning of sea power has been changing and evolving with the times. In the post-Cold War era, sea power has developed on the basis of the consensus on the international political multi-polarization and economic globalization, the new military transformation (restructuring), and the sustainable development of the ocean. The elements, composition, and concept of sea power have undergone tremendous changes. The elements of post-Cold War sea power include oceanographic conditions, the national economy’s need for the ocean, national security’s need for controlling the ocean, the national political demand for the ocean, and the importance attached to the marine by the national strategic decision-makers. The composition of sea power since the end of the Cold War consists of naval forces, maritime administration, the marine industrial system, the maritime legal system, and the strength of marine science and technology as well as marine strategy and marine awareness.In terms of the technological form of Seapower in the Post-Cold War Era,science and technology have been among the greatest driving forces of the development and evolution of sea power. Humanity has experienced the agricultural society, industrial society, and the information society. Correspondingly, the technological form of war has changed from cold weapon to hot weapon, to mechanization, and then to informationized warfare. Naval forces, as an important part of modern armed forces, have also marched into information era and achieved considerable progress in this respect. The U.S. Navy has become an informationized one, and has succeeded in post-Cold War local wars after having adjusted its tactical thinking, military technology, and institutional preparations for winning a war in the information age. Meanwhile, the navies of other countries, such as the Chinese navy and the British navy, integrated their resources with IT-represented new technology. From a technical point of view, post-Cold War sea power has acquired the characteristics of informationization. It is necessary to note, however, that informationization is a double-edged sword which, despite the technological progress it has brought about in post-Cold War sea power, has weakened sea power itself.In terms of the scale of Seapower in the Post-Cold War Era,the main form of warfare, combat mode and the battlefield have had enormous impact on sea power. Since the end of the Cold War, high-tech local wars have become the main form of warfare and integrated joint operations have become the major mode of operation. The battlefield encompasses five dimensions-land, sea, air, space, and electronics. All these have changed the scale of sea power. Integrated joint operations have enabled the control of the ocean to develop from the two-dimensional or three-dimensional to the five-dimensional; IT-led military high-tech has developed sea control from plane/half plane to the three-dimensional, and from the three-dimensional to the five-dimensional; and the integration of the battlefield requires the coordinated and unified action of armed forces of all the five dimensions. These factors have expanded sea power from the three-dimensional space of the mechanization era to the five-dimensional space of the information age. War also has impacted the scope of sea power:since the end of the Cold War, the change of the balance of naval forces has concentrated wars in coastal areas; integrated joint operations have raised new demands for the navy, requiring it to be capable of providing strategic sealift, marine defense, and the capability of deep strike on the land. Advances in military technology, especially the application of information technology to missile technology, has made it possible for the Navy to launch long-range accurate conventional strategic strikes on land targets. The above-mentioned impact on sea power has expanded the scale of sea power from high seas to coastal areas and the depth of the mainland. Changes in the scale of sea power since the end of the Cold War have not only completed the theoretical exploration, but also been practiced in war.The post-Cold War Chinese concept of sea power has been affected by both the external environment and domestic factors. The geopolitical context of Sea power since the end of the Cold War has changed dramatically, and the axis of world sea power has turned from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. With the rapid development of national strength, China has become a marine power, becoming one of the world’s two major wielders of sea power along with the United States. American sea power has become the greatest impediment against the development of Chinese sea power, with an "island chain" blockade on three key strategic areas:Taiwan, South China Sea and Indian Ocean. China’s concept of sea power has been greatly developed since the end of the Cold War. Now it is mainly composed of the economic view of sea power, the strategic view of sea power, the composite view of sea power, the idea of sea power cooperation, and the idea of marine territory.The end of the Cold War has caused a tremendous change in the denotation and connotation of sea power, and the change is still deepening and developing under the combined influence of political, economic, military, scientific and technological factors.