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This really shows just how "landlocked" [1] the People's Republic of China is by the chain of islands bordering it -- they have less ocean-facing coastline than

by eob 12y ago

This really shows just how "landlocked" [1] the People's Republic of China is by the chain of islands bordering it -- they have less ocean-facing coastline than Morocco, Portugal, and even Mauritania. Next time you read about the PRC (a) trying to assert naval power in the South China Sea, or (b) maintaining claims to Taiwan despite having never controlled it, think of this map and the near complete absence of the PRC on it. Access to the Pacific Ocean is critical to their strategic growth. edit: [1] see grandchild comment

gggggggg 12y ago
this seems wrong to me. If you look at a map, China has a fair amount of coastline. Do I have this wrong?
- eob 12y ago
  The PRC is almost completely surrounded at sea by other island nations which form a near complete "archipelago landlock" that doesn't exist (as far as I know) anywhere else in the world. So while it is true that China has lots of coastline, it can't project that coastline out into the Pacific Ocean because it is blocked. News reporting about China's actions often misses this important motivator.
jpatokal 12y ago
"Landlocked" is stretching it. It's >800 miles from Kagoshima to Taipei, >300mi from Kaohsiung to Laoag, and ~680mi from Laoag to Hainan. Add in the Tsushima Straits and the bit between Hainan and Vietnam, and that's over 2000 mi of ocean that you'd need to blockade to block China from the Pacific.
- eob 12y ago
  Perhaps, if we're arguing word choice, but the broader point is that no megapower wants to play Red Rover for easy access to an ocean if war broke out. Until we develop space-based weapons platforms and/or hypersonic missiles, naval power will remain the key means of projecting power and buffering coastline vulnerability. As long as naval power remains so important, unquestionable access to nearby bodies of water will be primary objects of power projection.
pcl 12y ago
I think that the choice of projection works against China here, since it has more southerly exposed coastline. Also, much of its exposure isn't due-east. I bet a projection with less polar distortion and some sort of tangent-based algorithm would paint a more accurate picture. But all that said, there definitely are a lot of islands between China and the Pacific.

by eob 12y ago

gggggggg 12y ago

this seems wrong to me. If you look at a map, China has a fair amount of coastline. Do I have this wrong?

eob 12y ago
The PRC is almost completely surrounded at sea by other island nations which form a near complete "archipelago landlock" that doesn't exist (as far as I know) anywhere else in the world. So while it is true that China has lots of coastline, it can't project that coastline out into the Pacific Ocean because it is blocked. News reporting about China's actions often misses this important motivator.

jpatokal 12y ago

"Landlocked" is stretching it. It's >800 miles from Kagoshima to Taipei, >300mi from Kaohsiung to Laoag, and ~680mi from Laoag to Hainan. Add in the Tsushima Straits and the bit between Hainan and Vietnam, and that's over 2000 mi of ocean that you'd need to blockade to block China from the Pacific.

eob 12y ago
Perhaps, if we're arguing word choice, but the broader point is that no megapower wants to play Red Rover for easy access to an ocean if war broke out. Until we develop space-based weapons platforms and/or hypersonic missiles, naval power will remain the key means of projecting power and buffering coastline vulnerability. As long as naval power remains so important, unquestionable access to nearby bodies of water will be primary objects of power projection.

pcl 12y ago

I think that the choice of projection works against China here, since it has more southerly exposed coastline. Also, much of its exposure isn't due-east. I bet a projection with less polar distortion and some sort of tangent-based algorithm would paint a more accurate picture. But all that said, there definitely are a lot of islands between China and the Pacific.