The West no longer rules the waves in Asia

[unhappycamper]

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-west-no-longer-rules-the-waves-in-asia-20140217-32w6g.html

China's naval power in the Asia-Pacific region must be acknowledged but not feared.

The West no longer rules the waves in Asia
Hugh White
February 18, 2014

For almost two centuries, the waters around China have been dominated by foreign warships - first British, then American. Time and again those ships were used to send a simple message: ''We may be far away but we can reach out and touch you, so pay attention when we call.'' They called it gunboat diplomacy.

Earlier this month Beijing did some gunboat diplomacy of its own. By sailing three small warships past Australia's outpost on Christmas Island last week, China was telling us the era of the West's maritime predominance is over. It was telling us that China is back as a great power in Asia, and Australia should learn to treat it with the respect that great powers demand.

One can see why Beijing might have wanted to send us this message. Five years ago Tony Abbott wrote in his book Battlelines that China's rise should make no difference to our foreign policy, and he has certainly acted on that basis since winning power. The new government has gone out of its way to show that it does not see China as a rising great power. it has talked down Australia's links with China, and talked up our alignments with the US and Japan, just as rivalry between them and China has escalated.

Now Julie Bishop seems to have got the message from Beijing. Late last week, in commenting on the Chinse naval deployment, she took a very different line. ''China is an emerging power in our region and globally,'' she told the ABC. ''We are in a very different world, it's a changing landscape, and our foreign policy must be flexible enough and nimble enough to recognise that changing landscape.'' This is much more realistic. It is also what Beijing wants to hear.