Since the Age of Discovery, unknown lands and seas in the world have been discovered one after another, and the continents have been connected by sea. This marks the beginning of modern civilization, and the formation of a truly global power and maritime power. On this planet, 71% of which is covered by seawater, the rise of great powers must rely on the ocean. For the prosperity of the country and the wealth of the people, the competition among the shipping powers has lasted for more than 500 years. From Portugal, the earliest shipping power, to the United States today, the development practice of the world shows that national security and economic and trade prosperity have always been the long-term goals of the shipping development of major countries. The history of a shipping power is almost the history of a global power; the history of a shipping power Construction is not achieved overnight, but the result of long-term persistent planning and struggle accumulation; a maritime power is not achieved once and for all. Without innovation and development, it is difficult to build core capabilities that adapt to the international political, technological and economic environment. The former maritime power may decline. A new maritime power may emerge.

The Connotation of a Maritime Power

From the Age of Discovery to the Second World War, the world powers competed for land and sea space and fought frequently. The development of shipping fleets and global networks was based on the needs of their own shipping and trade interests on the one hand, and on the other hand, for the interests of the Communist Party of China. *Provide maritime support for important supplies such as military operations, economic security, and disaster relief. Pirates once played multiple roles in history. Wars between great powers and pirate attacks can cause huge losses to the merchant fleet. Assets deployed globally by sea need to be protected by global forces. Due to technical constraints in shipbuilding, navigation, weather forecasting, and information communication, compared with the ever-changing and rough seas, navigation safety has also become an obstacle for a country to enter the global shipping industry. The environment for the development of maritime transport makes the global development of maritime transport often concentrate on a few big powers, and the comprehensive national strength, navigation talents and manufacturing capabilities play a very important role in the safety of navigation itself.

More than 70 years after the Second World War, the world pattern has changed, and multi-polarization has become a historical trend; the birth of nuclear weapons has enabled human beings to have the ability to destroy the earth on which they depend for survival. The possibility of direct war is greatly reduced. Peace and development have become the themes of today's world. The development of economy and trade has made the demand for shipping continue to rise, while the competition among major powers is more manifested in comprehensive national strength, and in local wars, various emergencies and Economic and trade development; economic and social development and changes in the geopolitical environment, the role of pirates has also undergone fundamental changes, and has become the target of navies of various countries, greatly reducing the risk of pirate attacks; modern astronomy, meteorology, ocean, navigation, communication, navigation Advances in technologies such as shipbuilding and shipbuilding have greatly improved people's ability to understand, develop and use large shipping channels, and significantly reduced the safety risks of navigation itself, enabling more countries to rely on their own element advantages to achieve global development of the shipping industry. .

Based on the current environment for the development of shipping, the understanding of the connotation of a shipping power can be summarized into three aspects: a shipping power is a strategic positioning relative to other countries and regional shipping, and "strong" is an adjective here, which means to play a leading role. Comprehensive strength, effective use of global shipping resources in the international shipping market, global presence, and a strong player formed in fierce competition; a shipping power is a strategy that can more effectively support national defense security and economic security than other countries and regions Positioning, "strong" is expressed as a verb here, which is reflected in the interaction with the comprehensive national strength of the country. In order to effectively deal with complex geopolitical situations and various emergencies that occur from time to time, major countries need maritime strategic deployment capabilities and strategic resource shipping. The support of safe and smooth channels; a maritime power is a strategic positioning that makes a greater contribution to the development of world maritime transport and has greater influence compared with other countries and regions. "Strong" is expressed here as a noun, embodied as The role of the "leader" can be counted on and relied upon by other countries to promote the innovation of shipping services, technological progress, channel and operation safety, and the formation of a good order and ecology. Based on the above three basic understandings, combined with the changes in the world pattern after World War II and the practice of maritime development, a modern maritime power is one that relies on comprehensive national strength and ranks among the top in the world in terms of maritime security, competitiveness, and leadership* **.

Maritime security, competitiveness and leadership

The meanings of maritime security, competitiveness and leadership are shown in Figure 1.

Shipping security is the bottom line for the development of shipping, which is reflected in the availability and economy of shipping. From the perspective of adapting to the country's demand for shipping, support is mainly reflected in normal, abnormal emergencies and strategic material maritime transportation. Peace and development are the themes of today's world. As a globally competitive industry, under normal circumstances, commercial materials and personnel transportation can choose carriers through the market to complete sea transportation economically. However, the transportation of strategic materials and personnel and materials in response to emergencies often cannot rely on the transportation capacity of other countries due to various reasons related to national security, economic security, and political influence; Availability and economy will face challenges, directly affecting strategic materials and resources related to national economy and people's livelihood, energy transportation in a timely and economical manner, and even due to various reasons, other countries' transportation capacity cannot be obtained or obtained at a very high cost. For safety and environmental accidents, it is necessary to obtain rescue capabilities in a timely manner to minimize the possible loss of personnel, property and the environment caused by safety and environmental accidents; The transportation capacity of itself and its allies, and relying on comprehensive national strength to ensure the safety of shipping channels. From the internal point of view of realizing the security of shipping, firstly, it needs to form a moderately advanced infrastructure, comprehensive transportation capacity and support security system, which is a domestic problem that can be solved through its own economic power, and it is also controllable; secondly, it needs a national defense with direct control To effectively deal with normal and abnormal emergencies, the safe and economic security fleet and special support equipment need the support of national economic and technical forces. Some core technologies and equipment are uncontrollable and often can only rely on themselves R&D strength and support from allies; third, it has influence and control over shipping channels, involving complex geopolitical situations, which are highly uncertain and uncontrollable, and requires comprehensive national strength and the support of allies. The shipping network all over the world is conducive to the rapid response of the government to emergencies such as national defense security, economic security and national sovereignty.

The competitiveness of shipping is the economic pursuit of the development of shipping in the world. As a globalized shipping industry, competition is mainly reflected in three aspects: international shipping, terminal operations, and modern shipping services, and its macro symbol is global service trade. International maritime transportation and terminal operations are directly reflected in the trade of transportation services, while the modern shipping service industry is reflected in the fields of financial, information and consulting services; the microscopic competition is reflected in the competition between international shipping companies and international terminal operators, namely The international operation scale and operating efficiency of the enterprise. The competition in the modern shipping service industry is mainly reflected in the agglomeration scale of international port cities-modern shipping service providers, and the symbol of competition is the status of the international shipping center, especially in the aggregation scale and structure of ship flow, capital flow, and information flow. The global nature of shipping competition requires a country to establish a shipping financing policy, tax policy, and strategic subsidy policy that are not inferior to other shipping powers based on the cyclical and technical and economic characteristics of the shipping market, and form a good shipping ecosystem to effectively utilize the international shipping industry. , domestic shipping resources and markets, and participate in global shipping competition.

Shipping leadership is the pursuit of ***'s role, influence and voice in the global shipping governance system. Leadership stems from its maritime strength, including rule-making capabilities, rule-executing capabilities, agenda-setting capabilities, public opinion promotion capabilities, and overall coordination capabilities. This strength is first reflected in the global presence of shipping, service innovation, management and technological innovation, and maintenance Capabilities in channel safety and rescue at sea. The second is to play an active role in the formation and operation of relevant international organizations. In the formulation of relevant technical standards and rules, it has the ability to innovate, coordinate, promote, and maintain implementation; the third aspect is reflected in the ability to publicize maritime values and public opinion, advocating openness, competition, and safety in shipping. , Green development, and actively promote the progress of the developing world's shipping industry. The leadership of shipping relies on the country's comprehensive national strength, achievements in shipping development, and contributions to the development of shipping in the world. It requires a large number of excellent professional teams who are familiar with national conditions, have a global perspective, are proficient in using foreign languages, are familiar with international rules, and are proficient in international negotiations. Including civil servants, entrepreneurs, scientific and technological talents, seafarers and international maritime activists, etc., it is the result of persistent planning and hard work in the construction of the maritime talent team.

Assurance, Competitiveness, and Leading Interrelationships

Maritime security, competitiveness, and leadership are three aspects of the development level of shipping relative to other countries, and at the same time, the three are mutually reinforcing.

Security involves national defense security and economic security, and major economic and trade countries all take ensuring security as their starting point. A national shipping with strong international competitiveness can have a larger shipping scale and higher efficiency, which can make the country's shipping guarantee more economical. The pursuit of security will directly form technological and economic spillovers, and provide support for the improvement of shipping competitiveness. The country's shipping control (ship dispatch) is conducive to transforming the country's shipping demand into a direct driving force for shipping development; it has a leading role in shipping development. ***, through the formulation of rules and technical standards, while regulating the global shipping order, it can provide cultural identity and public opinion recognition for the development of the country’s shipping, improve the efficiency of allocating global shipping resources and utilizing the global shipping market, and prevent the development of shipping technology. The adjustment of standards and rules weakens its competitiveness, and may even wipe out the achievements accumulated in long-term development, or become a burden for a new round of development. The improvement of competitiveness is the embodiment of grasping the frontier of maritime service and technological innovation, and supports a government to propose new international rules and technical standards, and further advocates the development concept of openness, competition, safety and green; The construction of public goods such as environmental protection and the legal system, and the maintenance of international navigation safety and freedom of navigation have certain influence and control over shipping channels. They all require the support of huge economic and technical forces. One country's shipping is leading. The improvement of shipping leadership will make its culture more widely recognized, thereby winning more national and regional responses, and gaining the support of allies in responding to emergencies, thereby improving its security.

Throughout the history of more than 500 years of development of a maritime power, influenced by the country's hard power, soft power and comparative advantages in the development of maritime resources, it is extremely difficult for a country to rank among the world's superpowers in terms of shipping security, competitiveness and leadership. Gao, only the United Kingdom and the United States have appeared in a short period of time in modern history. In today's world of economic globalization, multi-polarization and complex geopolitical situations, major economic and trade countries should combine their comprehensive national strength, shipping positioning and their own comparative advantages, choose a development model that suits their own characteristics, and pursue the guarantee, competitiveness and leadership of shipping. Overall, it has reached the top level in the world.