As China funds and operates deepwater ports around the world, some experts are calling for the US to reestablish its former maritime prowess. It's probably too late.
I don't fault the Chinese for this. They are simply filling a vacuum that the US created.
Our policies have made it such that there are very few US flagged ships. Very little commercial US shipbuilding. They have driven the shipping industry away from US ports with things like the Jones Act. Regulations written (not laws enacted) by regulatory agencies that make US development a near impossibility for any additional deep water ports. Taken patrol vessels from their roles ensuring safety of shipping to support endless wars.
This is not even considering the foreign policy of the US that makes partnership in any offshore development problematic.
Yes, you're absolutely right. The US left the hole to be filled, for sure, and just assumed that our backyard would always stay "ours."
From the Wall Street Journal:
>>Peru’s Foreign Minister Javier González-Olaechea said that if the U.S. is concerned about China’s growing presence in Peru, then it should step up its own investments, adding that “everyone is welcome” to invest.
“The United States is present almost everywhere in the world with a lot of initiatives, but not so much in Latin America,” González-Olaechea said in an interview. “It’s like a very important friend who spends little time with us.” <<
I don't fault the Chinese for this. They are simply filling a vacuum that the US created.
Our policies have made it such that there are very few US flagged ships. Very little commercial US shipbuilding. They have driven the shipping industry away from US ports with things like the Jones Act. Regulations written (not laws enacted) by regulatory agencies that make US development a near impossibility for any additional deep water ports. Taken patrol vessels from their roles ensuring safety of shipping to support endless wars.
This is not even considering the foreign policy of the US that makes partnership in any offshore development problematic.
Yes, you're absolutely right. The US left the hole to be filled, for sure, and just assumed that our backyard would always stay "ours."
From the Wall Street Journal:
>>Peru’s Foreign Minister Javier González-Olaechea said that if the U.S. is concerned about China’s growing presence in Peru, then it should step up its own investments, adding that “everyone is welcome” to invest.
“The United States is present almost everywhere in the world with a lot of initiatives, but not so much in Latin America,” González-Olaechea said in an interview. “It’s like a very important friend who spends little time with us.” <<
That doesn't even consider the strings attached to any dealings with the US.