China Frigate in Libyan Coast

time now for the part of the show we call what in the world that's exactly the phrase that came to mind when we saw these images a 4,000 ton frigate fully armed with air defense missiles off the Libyan coast it wasn't an American ship it wasn't British French Russian it wasn't any of the usual suspects it was Chinese this was a first the first time in history a Chinese warship has ever sailed in the Mediterranean Sea the zoo chow a missile frigate had been monitoring pirates off the coast of Somalia but then amidst the unrest in the Middle East it broke off and entered the Red Sea went through the Suez Canal and then headed towards Libya talk about going into uncharted waters this is a first for China breaking with centuries of history modern China has traditionally shied away from projecting its military power abroad but the Chinese Navy has been building up flexing its muscles and pushing back at the US military last April a a fleet of 10 Chinese warships passed through the Miyako Straits in an attempt to test Japan and the United States. And just last week, Vietnam accused China of violating its sovereignty by conducting military drills near its shores, again with Chinese ships. Now, the Libyan operation was a humanitarian mission, to rescue Chinese nationals working there. But there's no doubt this was part of a larger expansion of China's foreign policy. According to Chen Hua, the mission involved 91 domestic chartered flights, a dozen flights by military airplanes, 35 rented foreign chartered flights, five cargo ferries, 11 voyages by foreign passenger liners and some 100 bus runs. And of course that 4,000 ton frigate just watching offshore. Chinese state TV has been broadcasting these celebratory images for days now. Beijing says it has rescued nearly 36,000 Chinese nationals all of whom were working in Libya. Thanks for watching! these celebratory images for days now. Beijing says it has rescued nearly 36,000 Chinese nationals, all of whom were working in Libya. By evacuating a further 2,000 foreigners, China has also scored vital brownie points with Italy, Malta, Croatia, the Philippines, and others. It's not all purely humanitarian, however. Beijing has recently announced a 13% increase in defense spending to about $90 billion, this while the U.S. defense budget is likely to decline in coming years. China's ultimate showpiece is expected to be unveiled later this year, a naval supercarrier that can launch fighter jets and shoot down enemy planes. This video from YouTube is said to be China's new carrier. This one is American. We have had a virtual monopoly on these massive floating islands. That apparently is going to end. You'll remember in January, China conducted a test flight of a high-tech stealth fighter jet, right when Secretary of Defense Gates was visiting Beijing. And then last month, they developed a new carrier killer, a missile that could hit an aircraft carrier with pinpoint precision. These are all small measures that still put China way behind the United States military, but they all point in the same direction. China has in the past few years accumulated immense resources and financial assets in countries across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. It also has massive human investments in most of those places as well. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers are involved in projects across Africa. China wants to show that it will protect them and protect its investments. And to do that, it's rapidly expanding its military. As China's economic interests grow, expect to see a rise in its military power to protect those interests, and expect to see an expanding definition of China's vital national security interests, which will include more and more regions. That's what happens when great powers expand. After all, that's how an isolationist country in North America became the world's superpower about 75 years ago.