The West should not pressure Pacific island countries to choose between cooperating with China or with the US and its allies, a British navy admiral has said, pointing out that Beijing’s maritime dominance could cast considerable influence over the small island nations.
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On Wednesday, during the West 2025 conference hosted by the US Naval Institute and AFCEA in San Diego, Rear Admiral James Parkin, who is responsible for overseeing the development of naval technologies for the British Royal Navy, said the interconnectedness of global trade meant China “has a trump card of maritime trade that no other nation on the planet’s got”.
Parkin specifically cited China’s shipbuilding infrastructure, which is outpacing neighbouring competitors such as South Korea and Japan in the number of ships built per year and has more than half of the global share in exports.
“[Beijing] passed a law that every merchant ship can be changed to be a state-owned vessel in [an] era of combat,” Parkin said.
“So, as well as the silhouettes of warships versus warships … there’s another 10,000 state-owned Chinese vessels which could be brought to bear in an era of conflict.”
He added that China could therefore use its fleet to create an “almost universal maritime trade embargo” which, for the small, isolated Pacific island countries, would have immediate ramifications.
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