Clearly, the conventional Western analysis that the People's Liberation Army navy is following a progressive defense path by trying to first secure the waters within the "first island chain" -- the stretch of islands running parallel to China's coast, including Japan's Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan and the northern Philippines -- and then proceeding to the "second island chain" -- bordered by Guam, northern Australia and Indonesia -- is out of date.

Which island chain includes the coastline of Somalia? China's concept of a national interest frontier is not just a theoretical discussion. It is founded on the actual demands of combat operations. The People's Liberation Army Daily carried another article on Dec. 2, 2008, titled "Abandoning the Doctrine of Peaceful Military Build-up and Preparing for Military Confrontation That May Break Out Anytime." This caught the attention of Western military observers.

The belligerent wording in this treatise, at a time when tensions in the Taiwan Strait have greatly eased, has confused and worried analysts. Why did the author openly advocate preparations for military conflict at such a moment? Conflict with whom?

"Unless China is in possession of a credible core capability to win a regional war in the information era, China will not have the fundamental ability to accomplish other military missions," the article warned. "For China, although the possibility of a large-scale foreign invasion can be excluded, the danger of involvement in a regional war, military conflict and the interference of a superior opponent has never decreased," it said.

From the perspective of Chinese military strategists, China no longer has any national interest frontier, because all corners of the planet have established ties with China through trade. Chinese merchant ships are already navigating the waters of the four great oceans and have reached all parts of the five continents. This is an advantage that the Soviet Union did not have in earlier years.

In Africa, China is already the continent's third-largest trading partner, after the United States and France. In 2006 China's trade with Africa broke the $50 billion mark. It is critically important that Africa's natural resources provide a lifeline to China's economy.

China has been providing large quantities of Chinese-made weapons and military equipment to many countries in Africa, as this writer has described in earlier articles published by United Press International. Many of these were traded for oil.

(Part 3: Why China's commodities and oil imports from Latin America and Africa will require a global power projection capability and continued protection by the growing Chinese navy)

(Andrei Chang is editor in chief of Kanwa Defense Review Monthly, registered in Toronto.)

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