In recent times, the launch of China's Fujian aircraft carrier has been attracting the attention of media at home and abroad. Therefore, a reporter asked at the press conference of China's Ministry of National Defense whether China will build more large aircraft carriers? And does building more large warships mean that China will change its defense policy?
Colonel Tan Kefei, spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defense, replied: China’s development of armaments is intended to safeguard its own interests. It is not aimed at any country or target, and will not pose a regional threat. The subsequent aircraft carrier development plan will be based on national security needs and equipment technology development. Consider both aspects of the situation.
This answer seems to be just a cliché, but it actually reveals a very key information: it does not say that China has always pursued a national defense policy of active defense.
Because defense is to safeguard the country's sovereignty and interests, but sometimes offense is also to safeguard the country's sovereignty and interests. So does this mean that China’s defense policy has changed?
Of course not. China as a whole pursues a defense strategy of not attacking others unless others attack us. This is as always. It's just that in the past, our military's main focus was China's periphery, so it was always said that China pursued a national defense policy of active defense.
But now with the launch of the Fujian ship and more and more large warships entering service, the Chinese Navy's focus has changed from homeland defense to interest defense.
To put it bluntly, no one can beat us at our doorstep. The pressure on defense is reduced. However, as China's economic activities continue to expand outward, there are more and more overseas interests. How to ensure these overseas interests has become an important part of safeguarding national security and interests. The
aircraft carrier is under construction to meet this demand. The Fujian ship can only be said to be the beginning for the Chinese Navy. In the future, the Chinese Navy will inevitably build 004, 005 or even more aircraft carriers.
At this time, you will face a logical paradox . The aircraft carrier is an ocean-going war platform. It is an offensive weapon in itself. If the war is really at home, it is actually those small and fast missile boats, which are more practical.
Now we are constantly building new aircraft carriers, but we keep saying that they are for defense needs. Although we really think so, it is also easy for the United States and other Western countries to take advantage of us.
Apart from anything else, the United States has 11 aircraft carriers. If the United States imitates China and says that they built so many aircraft carriers for defensive operations, where can I explain it?
In addition, from the perspective of protecting national interests, weapons are manufactured to deter enemies. If China still sticks to homeland defense, then the construction of ocean-going weapons such as aircraft carriers will actually be meaningless.
Frankly speaking, aircraft carriers are built for offense. It is meaningless to insist that they are also defensive weapons.
But at the same time, China is certainly not building aircraft carriers to deploy troops all over the world and control the world like the United States.
China continues to develop its own aircraft carrier force precisely because the United States relies on its powerful navy to constantly provoke, intimidate other small and medium-sized countries, and harm China's interests.
In this sense, China's original intention of building aircraft carriers is indeed for defense, but this defense is not passive defense waiting for others to knock on the door, but active defense.
Active defense has two meanings. Before the war broke out, we built aircraft carriers to frighten potential opponents so that they would not dare to think of attacking China;
But once the war broke out, in the face of the enemy's strategic attack, Sending an aircraft carrier fleet to pre-emptively threaten the opponent's homeland or military base is also a way to end the war with war and protect national interests.
China has not changed its national defense policy of active defense, but the scope of defense has continued to expand with the launch of aircraft carriers.
The biggest difference is that China's aircraft carrier will never go to other people's doorsteps for free navigation or military exercises for no reason, unless the other party harms or prepares to harm our interests.
Finally, from China’s own perspective, we do not seek hegemony, but hegemony forces you to arm yourself. In today's context of economic globalization, if China wants to go further, it must go abroad and invest in and build more projects overseas.
From the perspective of economic structure, China’s overseas investment and profit model is actually relatively mature. Many of the troubles Chinese companies encounter overseas are political troubles, and many of these political troubles are The United States was instigating it behind the scenes.
For example, the strikes in Chilean copper mines, delays in South African iron mines, etc. To protect these interests from damage, more aircraft carriers must be built, which is inevitable. As for the clamor and accusations that
has attracted from some Western public opinion, it is just the result of some people's "double standards" and is not worth mentioning.
