"Pier Competitor: China's Power Position In Global Ports" - By CWP Alum Isaac B. Kardon & Wendy Leutert

China is a leader in the global transportation industry, with an especially significant position in ocean ports. A mapping of every ocean port outside of China reveals that Chinese firms own or operate terminal assets in ninety-six ports in fifty-three countries. An original dataset of Chinese firms' overseas port holdings documents the geographic distribution, ownership, and operational characteristics of these ports. What are the international security implications of China's global port expansion? An investigation of Chinese firms' ties to the Party-state reveals multiple mechanisms by which the Chinese leadership may direct the use of commercial port assets for strategic purposes. International port terminals that Chinese firms own and operate already provide dual-use capabilities to the People's Liberation Army during peacetime, establishing logistics and intelligence networks that materially enable China to project power into critical regions worldwide. But this form of networked state power is limited in wartime because it depends on commercial facilities in non-allied states. By providing evidence that overseas bases are not the sole index of global power projection capabilities, findings advance research on the identification and measurement of sources of national power. China's leveraging of PRC firms' transnational commercial port network constitutes an underappreciated but consequential form of state power projection.

International Security (2022) 46 (4): 9–47. - April 01 2022 - https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00433

https://direct.mit.edu/isec/article/46/4/9/111175/Pier-Competitor-China-s-Power-Position-in-Global

Isaac B. Kardon (孔适海) is assistant professor in the Strategic and Operational Research Department, China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI). He specializes in Chinese foreign policy and writes on China's maritime disputes, Indo-Pacific maritime security and commerce and China-Pakistan relations. He teaches classes on Chinese politics and foreign policy and serves as managing editor of the CMSI Red Book series. His book “China’s Law of the Sea: The New Rules of Maritime Order” (Yale, forthcoming) analyzes China's influence on "the rules" of the international law of the sea. His current research focuses on commercial ports owned and/or operated by PRC firms.

Leutert is the GLP-Ming Z. Mei Chair of Chinese Economics and Trade. Her research focuses on Chinese political economy, specifically the historical evolution and global expansion of China's state-owned enterprises. Other areas of her research include leadership in China's public sector, China’s early reform and opening, corporate governance in state-owned enterprises, and international investment and trade. Her research is forthcoming or has been published in The China Quarterly, China Perspectives, and Asia Policy. Her commentary has been featured in media outlets including the Financial Times, New York Times, Reuters, Washington Post, and South China Morning Post.

Photo Credit: https://pixabay.com/users/cegoh-94852/