The PLA at Home and Abroad - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

So why is Beijing making this effort? Rear Admiral
Yin Zhuo, director of a naval expert committee, explains
that China lacks formal relations with NATO. 132
Closer cooperation “would involve the sharing of
intelligence codes, which is a sensitive military and
political issue.” 133 There are several broader potential
explanations for China’s hesitation: lack of experience
and preparation, sensitivity regarding sovereignty,
and concerns about revealing Chinese capabilities (or
lack thereof). For example, there appear to be some
Chinese concerns that their vessels will be subject to
scrutiny. Rear Admiral Yang Yi states that “some secretive
reconnaissance does take place”; Sr. Captain Li
Jie of the Naval Research Institute adds that “As long
as all parties keep their activities to a minimum, military
powers will not engage in disputes.” 134
The author is concerned that the “patrol zone” approach,
if adopted, is unlikely to be effective. First, dividing
the sea among different nations evokes a sort of
“Cold War” mentality, just as post-war Germany was
divided into different sectors that later led to a painful
and prolonged national division. Second, some sea
areas are much busier than others, so this would result
in an inefficient distribution of forces. Third, some nations
navies may be more capable and/or experienced
than others, so there is a risk that some areas might be
less-secured than others. This could be very difficult
to solve, as it might be very difficult for any nation to
acknowledge that its forces were not able to perform
adequately. Fourth, such a “distributed unilateral”
approach seems regrettable when there is sufficient
support in the international community for a genuine
“cooperative multilateral” approach.
For all these reasons, a far more effective approach
would be to support the truly cooperative Combined
Task Force-151. CTF-151 has been led by a Pakistani
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