China’s Two Ocean Strategy: Controlling Waterways and the New Silk Road

The “Two-Ocean” Strategy (双海战略) began to appear in the literature around 2005 as a pre-conceptualized project set by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and representing a strategic objective to achieve. The narrative behind this is that China ought to gain back control of the waters surrounding it as not only a symbolic end to its “Century of Humiliation” and the neglect of its own navy since the country’s economic ascension. Kaplan posits this idea that the navy was neither capable nor adequate to achieve such an objective in the mid to late 2000s. Any talk of such a strategy back then was merely projections. However, since the implementation of the “One Belt, One Road” Initiative (OBOR), the Two-Ocean Strategy has gained renewed relevance and momentum. If earlier versions of the strategy emphasized areas around certain coastal cities (primarily Tianjin) at the time, the focus has undoubtedly changed and a fully sketched out strategy is evident.

As such, this research note dissects and analyses the current Two-Ocean Strategy and its relationship with the One belt road. Consisting of four sections, this paper demonstrates that while the two ocean strategy has military roots, it is nonetheless focused on economic security and furthering China’s economic interests. Therefore, the latter is best understood against the backdrop of the OBOR.

The first section is a two part literature review which begins with detailing the history of the strategic development and thinking of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN); the latter is used as a spring board into examining the Two-Ocean Strategy. The second section analyses the geopolitical implications of this strategy. The third section briefly examines the economic problems facing China in the present context; and the final section amalgamates the Two-Ocean Strategy and the OBOR so as to produce a cohesive national strategy for China that is centred on economic security and prosperity…