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

only would we be unable to make use of our influence in international
affairs, but even insignificant pirates and terrorists would
create large amounts of trouble for us, and our route to revival
would most certainly be fraught with more difficulties.” Ibid.
179. Specifically, Dai recommends that Chinese foreign affairs
and propaganda specialists should advance a new “Chinese contribution
theory” to counteract the “Chinese expansion theory”
and “China threat theory.” Ibid.
180. Dai states that the base should be “suitable for comprehensive
replenishment” and suggests that it could be used
to promote common development with neighboring countries.
Ibid. Several factors suggest that Dai may be using a very modest
conception of a “base” here. Development of port facilities in
other nations, be they places or bases, to support naval deployments
tend to be very different facilities from the type of bases the
Chinese have or might develop on such South China Sea islands,
which would assist Chinese forces deployed there to enforce Chinese
claims. Their small size and lack of fresh water limit their
ability to help sustain naval forces on long range deployments.
181. Roy D. Kamphausen and Justin Liang, “PLA Power Projection:
Current Realities and Emerging Trends,” in Michael D.
Swaine, Andrew N. D. Yang, and Evan S. Medeiros, with Oriana
Skylar Mastro, eds., Assessing the Threat: The Chinese Military and
Taiwan’s Security, Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, 2007, pp. 131, 136.
182. The Indian Ocean region contains 62 percent of the
world’s proven oil reserves, 35 percent of its gas, 40 percent of its
gold, 60 percent of its uranium, and 80 percent of its diamonds;
as well as other important minerals and industrial raw materials,
such as iron, titanium, chromate, lithium, bauxite, cobalt, nickel
manganese, rubber, and tin. BP Statistical Review of World Energy,
June 2009, p. 6, available from www.bp.com/statisticalreview; “Indian
Ocean,” CIA World Factbook, Washington, DC: Central Intelligence
Agency, 2007, available from https://www.cia.gov/library/
publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xo.html.
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