10/15/2023 0 Comments World war II north pacific navy![]() In 2020, a giant fleet of nearly 300 vessels was spotted near the Galapagos Islands – close to the territorial waters of Ecuador – more than 15,000km from China’s shore. The fleets, made up of trawlers, processing factories and support vessels, are self-sufficient and are designed to travel enormous distances to lucrative fishing grounds far beyond China’s shores. These vast Chinese long-range fishing fleets roam the Pacific searching for and exploiting fishing grounds and have encroached on the territory of other countries. This number dwarfs the combined fleets of its nearest competitors, Japan and South Korea, which together only number about 2,500. The search for food and fuel for its people and resources for its industry is vital if China is to ensure its political stability.Ĭhina’s expeditionary fishing fleet is the world’s largest by far, comprising an estimated 17,000 vessels. A fishing vessel with a Chinese flag prepares to fish for squid on the high seas near the Galapagos Islands in July, 2021 China’s fleetsĬhina, the second largest economy globally, is also the world’s most populous nation. Meanwhile, as China asserts its presence in the Pacific, this rivalry has led to a growing arms race with new strategic alliances reshaping the region. In a world with growing populations, dwindling resources and greater demands on industry, their possession could very well ensure a country’s long-term wellbeing. As a result, competition for these islands and the resources they represent has sharply picked up pace. If a country owns these islands, it means the surrounding ocean floor and volume of ocean also belong to it. Possession of this potential wealth is linked to ownership of often tiny and uninhabited islands. Vast resources of fish and significant deposits of both oil and natural gas lie beneath the ocean surface, with most barely discovered and lying untapped. South Korea, Japan, China and Australia have all boosted their naval power as they jostle for supremacy in the Pacific. Framed on one side by the Americas, on the far side of this vast ocean spanning more than 155 million square kilometres, competition between Asian Pacific Rim powers is heating up. The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest body of water on the planet. ![]()
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