Source: Direct News
The United States has seriously violated the basic norms of international law and international relations, carried out the so-called "301 investigation", and imposed restrictions on China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries, seriously damaging the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises. South Korean shipping company Huawei Ocean assisted and supported the U.S. government's investigation activities, and delivered a "nomination letter" to the United States. The Ministry of Commerce of China issued an announcement on 14th, announcing countermeasures against the five U.S. subsidiaries of Huawei Ocean.
Since the beginning of this year, China has built 717 large merchant ships, while the United States has built only one. The decline of the U.S. shipbuilding industry has also put the U.S. Navy's ship maintenance and manufacturing difficulties. South Korea plays a "savior" role in the Trump administration's "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again" plan (MASGA). South Korea's shipbuilding industry, including Hanwha Ocean, is planning to move from maintenance, repair, and operation support businesses to the stage of directly building warships for the US military, which is completely integrated into the US military-industrial complex. Therefore, China's precise sanctions this time not only beats some forces that want to "use the United States to contain China to profit," but also leaves the Trump administration's shipbuilding plan with slim prospects.
The U.S. Navy declines, South Korean companies come as "saviors"
The USS Truman nuclear-powered aircraft carrier suffered a ship collision near the Suez Canal at the beginning of the year, which disgraced the Pentagon. More ironically, at the recent celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US Navy, when US President Trump gave a speech in front of the USS Truman, the huge poster beside him was actually used to cover the damaged part of the aircraft carrier being hit.
The move caused the ridicule and criticism of U.S. netizens: for up to eight months, the U.S. Navy has not been able to repair the aircraft carrier's "little wounds". The deeper reality is that, influenced by the continued decline of the U.S. shipbuilding industry, currently only the U.S. Newport News Shipyard and the few dry boats of the Pudget Bay Navy Shipyard, have the ability to maintain the 100,000-ton super aircraft carrier, and these dry boats are currently occupied.
Aircraft carriers cannot be lined up for maintenance, and the construction of warships and submarines is frequently delayed. The U.S. Navy has begun to "stretch" from basic hardware. In desperation, the United States had no choice but to find "helpers" from around the world, and Hanwha Ocean was the South Korean company that relied on the U.S. military most closely. South Korea's Hanwha Marine has signed a contract with the U.S. Navy to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul work for U.S. Navy ships in an attempt to help the Trump administration restore global shipbuilding competitiveness.
In March this year, Huawei announced that it completed the comprehensive repair and maintenance of the U.S. Navy’s logistics supply ship “Wally Shella” at the Korean Giant Jelly Shipyard and delivered it to the U.S. Navy. This is the first time that Huawei Ocean has undertaken and completed the routine repair project for U.S. Navy ships.
Huawei also announced a $5 billion infrastructure upgrade plan for the shipyard, aiming to increase annual shipyard production from less than two to 20 units.In August this year, South Korean President Lee Min also visited the U.S. to inspect the shipyard in Philadelphia and attended the ceremony of naming the U.S. National Security Multi-Mission Ship Maine, built by the shipyard.
“Make American Shipbuilding Great Again”
Hanwha Philadelphia Shipyard is regarded as a symbolic project of South Korea-US shipbuilding cooperation and became part of Trump's so-called "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again" plan. If it is only to assist the US military in repairing and building ships, it may not be targeted by China. The last thing Hanwha Ocean should not be "stabbing" China in the back while going to the embrace of the United States.
According to public documents, Hanwha Ocean sent a letter to the Office of the United States Trade Representative on March 20th, saying that it "strongly supports" the 301 investigation and restrictive measures against China aimed at weakening the status of China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries, and provided a series of financial data and policy suggestions with sinister intentions. Since then, Hanwha Marine has also appeared at the public hearing of the Office of the United States Trade Representative and submitted the same testimony.
China's Ministry of Commerce announced on October 14 that the United States carried out 301 investigations and measures on China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries, seriously violating the basic norms of international law and international relations, seriously damaging the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.Huawei Marine Co., Ltd. assisted and supported relevant US subsidiaries in the US government's investigation activities, endangering China's sovereignty, security and development interests.
In the global shipbuilding market, Hanoi Ocean is stable in the first tier, with China's Yangtze Jiang Shipping Industry, Shandong China and other jointly dominant markets. by hand-held order measurement, its global share isined annually at 5% to 8%, stable in the world's top ten.
According to data from ship brokerage firm BRS Shipbrokers, the cost of U.S. ships may be five times that of Asian ships. Hanwha Marine relies heavily on China ship steel, valves, etc. in ship construction. After the implementation of sanctions, the construction of alternative supply chains will increase its construction costs by about 10%, and its competitiveness will be weakened.
South Korea's "Central Daily News" quoted Chu Zaiyu, a professor at Kyung Hee University, as analyzing that China's inclusion of Hanwha Philadelphia Shipyard in the sanctions list not only constrains Trump's plan to revitalize the shipbuilding industry, but also targets Hanwha's use of Chinese rare earth element defense products to counter Hanwha Ocean is "killing two birds with one stone" and has become China's important negotiating "bargaining chip".
China takes action to deter foreign enterprises from harming Chinese interests
For Hanwha Ocean, this may only be the beginning of a precision strike. South Korea's Chosun Ilbo's analysis worries that it is difficult to completely rule out the possibility that China will expand its sanctions to local subsidiaries in the United States and even Hanwha Ocean. Hanwha Ocean's Geoje plant has been manufacturing ships using hull segments made at its own ship segment (partial hull) factory in China for final assembly. If sanctions reach here, it could disrupt production schedules.
South Korean analysts pointed out that the Chinese sanctions against five U.S. subsidiaries in the Korean Ocean are more like a “first phase warning” rather than a substantial offensive. This is because only with current measures, the operations of the Korean Ocean have not yet suffered substantial losses.
The Korean shipbuilding industry is worried that not only Hanwha Ocean, but also enterprises participating in the shipbuilding cooperation between the United States and South Korea in the future may enter the scope of China's sanctions. At present, most shipping routes in the world are centered on China, and Chinese cargo owners have considerable influence in many core routes. If the Sino-US trade conflict intensifies and China increases sanctions, the American shipyards involved in the construction of Korean shipbuilding companies may encounter obstacles from the stage of undertaking orders for new ships needed for reconstruction.
Park Jishun, a professor at China Graduate School of Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, also analyzed that the plan of "making American shipbuilding industry great again" is not a pure economic cooperation in essence, but a core cooperation topic between the United States and South Korea related to security issues. Hanwha Ocean is the company that contributed the most to this project, so it has become the first target of sanctions, and this sanction may be extended to other Korean shipbuilding enterprises such as HD Hyundai Group and Samsung Heavy Industries.
Therefore, China took the initiative and made a precise attack this time. While countering the United States, it also warned some companies and countries that were following the footsteps of the United States.
Author of Army.