More Ships, More Ships, More Ships?

RealClearDefense is pleased to begin a series of weekly articles with companion videos discussing key questions about national security for the 2016 Presidential Election Debate, particularly related to the rise of China. These short videos feature interviews with some of the top experts in the world filmed as part of the Crouching Tiger Project that seeks to assess the probability of conflict with a rising China.

In June of 2013, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton set the Obama Administration off on a bold new course in Asia. She announced with great fanfare on the pages of Foreign Policy a “pivot” that would shift America’s defense forces, particularly, its ships more towards the Asian theater.

In defending this policy, she (with the assistance of Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell for East Asian and Pacific Affairs) noted both the economic and strategic importance of a region of the world that is home to about half of the world’s population and will likely be the most important driver of global growth during this new century.

As Ms. Clinton herself now runs for president against several other Democrats and a large contingent of Republicans, it is useful to ask this group of White House aspirants whether they each support such a pivot to Asia. If so – and perhaps far more importantly – what should be the size of the US naval fleet to make the pivot a truly effective US security policy?

Peter Navarro is a business professor at the University of California-Irvine and author of Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means for the World (Prometheus Books) www.crouchingtiger.net