From today, China must ensure that her naval forces are always capable and adequate

in size to handle any possible intrusions by foreign ships claiming to be on innocuous

passages through Chinese territorial waters. Such ships could actually be guided by
foreign elements already stationed (based) on land and disguised as ordinary tourists,
busy businessmen, famous media personnel or entertainment agents and the like.

There are persistent reports that US, or some other western intelligence agencies have
recruited people (possibly of Oriental descent) to ‘work’ in the republic and some might
have already successfully penetrated organisations related to maritime activities and /or
naval operations along the coast. There was one such case some years ago, where a man
of east Asian origin managed to get inside a facility but was discovered just before his
ruse could do some very real damage.

This also possibly has something to do with the perennial insistence on the part of US
naval officers to make regular visits to southern China, especially Hong Kong. The
southern island of Hainan, in particular, has begun registering a huge blip on the US
Pacific Fleet giant radar screen ever since the scenic place became a ‘hideout’ for PLAN
nuclear submarines.

It is hard to root out all those planted moles or sleeper agents, but it is not too hard to
tackle ships supposedly making innocuous passages near or inside Chinese waters.

China must separate her Marine Corps from her Navy. Thus allowing the PLA to have
four branches instead of three. The PLAAF would always be around as the shield and
spear for both strategic and tactical air defence while the duty of the ground forces has to
be defending cities and towns. The Navy ? The Navy is naturally the first line of defence
in the event ships on innocuous passages start changing course.

The Navy, however would not be expected to have a long life as the first line of defence.
As such, the Marines must be separated from the Navy. The Marines should be assigned
to take care of the beaches, inland waterways and coastal defences. Once the Navy loses
its mass to fight the enemy in deep water, only the Marines and the Air Force are left to
hold off the enemy (his invasion force). Therefore the Marine Corps must have at least
one aircraft carrier that it can truly call its own. Such a vessel must never sail far from
the coast while supporting operations. This would allow shore missile batteries to provide
reasonably adequate protection for the vessel. The aircraft carried on board would be the
types optimised for search and rescue plus anti-shipping and the tracking of enemy subs.
Once the Marine Corps become the only line of defence against enemy fleets, the Air
Force can then pull out all the stops to hit every ship located in deep water. This kind of
combination would most likely be able to stop the enemy from proceeding any further.
The Navy should be given giant supercarriers instead of types like the ex-Soviet Varyag.
However, supercarriers are only useful in peacetime. In any attack by deadly enemies
such as the US Pacific Fleet, the supercarriers should retreat as quickly as possible to
coastal ports or harbours where shore protection is adequately available. In here, the PLA
Marine Corps have yet one more vital task to shoulder. So, long live the Marine Corps !