What is called a “company” or a “business” in China is simply a branch of the Chinese national government. It is owned and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In some cases, this ownership and control is explicit; in other cases, it is hidden, but nonetheless real.
In China, the civilian government, the military, the CCP, and numerous companies which power the Chinese economy are not separate entities, but rather different faces of the same group of powerful elites. In this way, the import and export businesses are seen as tools for the government’s political and military goals, and the CCP uses the military to create favorable situations for the import and export businesses.
The South China Sea is a central part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. This program is designed to bring Chinese exports to various markets, and to ensure the availability of raw materials for import into China. The initiative includes both seaways and railroad connections on land. The South China Sea is one of the most important seaways — if not the most important seaway — not only for Chinese commerce, but for world commerce.
As far back as 2014, historian Robert Kaplan wrote:
The Russo-Japanese War and the Pacific Theater in World War II were the upshots in significant measure of Japanese militarism, for which the seas offered no defense; in fact, the seas were fundamental to the expansion of an island nation that required large stores of oil from distant shores for its rampaging armed forces. But China, now the rising military power in the Pacific, demonstrates far less aggression than did Imperial Japan following the Meiji Restoration: even as China’s military (particularly its navy) expands, fascism as in Japan is almost surely not on the horizon in the Middle Kingdom. As for the comparison between China and Imperial Germany prior to World War I that many make, whereas Germany was primarily a land power, owing to the geography of Europe, China will be primarily a naval power, owing to the geography of East Asia. It is this geography, I repeat, that will foster the growth of navies, which, while a worrisome trend in its own right, is still not as worrisome as the growth of armies in continental Europe at the beginning of the last century.
The coordination between China’s military goals and its commercial goals allow it to present a seemingly peaceful front to the world as it seeks to develop better trade relationships with various countries, relationships which are allegedly mutually beneficial.
So it is, then, that the Belt and Road Initiative is a mechanism for China’s imperial ambitions: Chinese diplomats approach various nations around the world — so far, mainly in Africa and Asia, but South America will also be involved — with offers to help develop infrastructure. The Chinese will assist in building harbors, airports, railroads, and other facilities for commercial transportation. The Chinese present these projects as steps toward the development of reciprocal trade: China and the host nation will both profit from shared import and export arrangements.
Woven into these agreements are clauses requiring a minimum percentage of Chinese ownership, management, and control. The permanent presence of a Chinese military base in the region is also often required.
China offers such deals to developing nations, i.e., third-world nations, which are usually unable to pay for their share of the construction costs. China then generously offers to lend the money to the host nation. Once the construction is underway, it becomes clear that the host nation is unable to repay the debt. China then claims a larger share of ownership, management, and control as a consequence of the smaller nation’s default.
Thus China begins to build an empire.
Although much of this Chinese imperialist expansion is accomplished by economic means, the Chinese military is an ever-present backdrop. Military officers are often present at what is allegedly a meeting among civilian business executives. The message is clear: the third-world nations will agree to China’s terms and will comply with the stipulations of the contracts.
In order for the Chinese strategy to work, the Chinese military must expand. It must be able to reach various parts of Africa, Asia, and South America. It must control the most important sealanes. It must control the South China Sea.
In March 2022, the Associated Press reported:
China has fully militarized at least three of several islands it built in the disputed South China Sea, arming them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment and fighter jets in an increasingly aggressive move that threatens all nations operating nearby, a top U.S. military commander said Sunday.
The Associated Press spoke with U.S. Admiral John Christopher Aquilino, who released information from reconnaissance aircraft flying over the South China Sea and over the artificial islands which the Chinese military constructed there:
“I think over the past 20 years we’ve witnessed the largest military buildup since World War II by the PRC," Aquilino told The Associated Press in an interview, using the initials of China’s formal name. “They have advanced all their capabilities and that buildup of weaponization is destabilizing to the region.”
To control sealanes and to intimidate the nations colonized by China as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, the bases in the South China Sea extend the reach of the Chinese military.
“The function of those islands is to expand the offensive capability of the PRC beyond their continental shores,” he said. “They can fly fighters, bombers plus all those offensive capabilities of missile systems.”
China’s integration of commerce, military, and political systems requires global strategists to see Chinese companies as part of the Chinese army, and the Chinese army as tasked with enabling Chinese commerce.
In other nations, the military, the commerce, the government, and the political party are separate enough that they can agree or disagree with each other, and that they can put pressure on each other. In China, these are all simply different faces of the same power clique.
The world’s ability to understand and contain China will determine the extent to which the smaller nations of Africa, Asia, and South America are able to retain any sense of self-determination and democracy.