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us congressman proposes bill to revive shipbuilding industry: china won 1,500 new ship orders last year, while the us only won 5

2024-09-26

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[text/observer network xiong chaoran] on september 25th local time, republican congressman mike waltz of florida and democratic senator mark kelly of arizona announced at an event at the center for strategic and international studies (csis) that they would propose a bipartisan legislation, the "ships for america act," to revitalize the u.s. shipbuilding industry.

according to the hong kong "south china morning post" report on september 26, kelly claimed on the same day that the decline of the united states' maritime power was one of his main motivations for proposing the bill. at the end of world war ii, the united states had "10,000 ocean-going merchant ships engaged in american trade, flying the american flag and manned by american crews"; now this number has dropped further, and there are only about 80 merchant ships engaged in international trade activities and flying the american flag.

walz hyped up the fact that china now dominates the global shipbuilding industry, receiving orders for more than 1,500 new ships last year, while the united states only received 5 orders. it is estimated that china currently accounts for 50% of global shipping volume, while the united states accounts for only 0.2%.

“we keep talking about china’s ability to shut down the supply of goods that it’s currently producing that we no longer produce, like pharmaceuticals or rare earth minerals, or the fact that most chips are now produced in taiwan and face the threat of mainland china,” walz claimed. “but in reality, they can strangle our entire economy by strangling the shipping fleet.”

the proposed legislation is reportedly designed to address this gap between china and the united states through a so-called "multi-pronged" approach. kelly outlined the main components of the plan, including regulatory reforms and financial support for the industry, such as tax credits; strengthening shipbuilding capacity; and rebuilding the maritime workforce. he also called for a coordinated approach by the u.s. government, requiring the departments of defense, commerce, and treasury to work together.

walz and kelly said they were optimistic the legislation would have broad support, citing extensive consultations with industry stakeholders, shipping companies and unions during the drafting of the bill.

the south china morning post pointed out that the bill was one of several china-related priorities discussed by u.s. lawmakers on september 25, local time, as the u.s. congress is about to adjourn this week until the november 5 election. waltz and kelly said that the bill will be introduced after the lawmakers return to washington. in order for it to become law, the u.s. congress needs to pass it in both the senate and the house this year, because all pending legislation will expire in january next year, and then the new congress will rejoin.

"the united states seeks to cooperate with south korean shipyards to counter china." the wall street journal also published an article on september 23, saying that as china occupies nearly half of the global shipbuilding market, the united states has fallen far behind china in the shipbuilding industry. therefore, the united states is trying to cooperate with south korean and japanese shipbuilding companies to build ships quickly at a lower cost to "confront china."

the article states that after the end of world war ii, the united states had hundreds of shipyards, accounting for two-fifths of the world's shipping capacity. but now, due to factors such as rising labor costs and longer turnaround times, there are only a few dozen shipyards left in the united states, which are only responsible for building american ships and can hardly get other orders.

in contrast, china's shipbuilding industry has developed rapidly, and its industrial scale has greatly surpassed that of the united states. the report "reversing the decline of american maritime power" released by the u.s. congress in april this year stated that the scale of china's shipbuilding workforce is about four times that of the united states. data from the u.s. naval institute also showed that china has occupied nearly 50% of the global shipbuilding market, south korea and japan account for nearly 30% and 17% respectively, while the u.s. capacity accounts for only 0.13%.

the latest data shows that in the first half of 2024, my country's shipbuilding completion volume was 25.02 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 18.4%; the number of new orders was 54.22 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 43.9%; as of the end of june, the number of orders on hand was 171.55 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 38.6%. the three major indicators accounted for 55%, 74.7% and 58.9% of the world market share respectively.

in addition to the increasing number of orders and higher profits, there is another obvious change in the data for the first half of this year, that is, more and more foreign shipowners are placing orders with chinese shipyards. more than 70% of every 10 new shipbuilding orders in the world go to china. my country's shipbuilding exports continue to grow.

according to reports, at another event on september 25 local time, john moolenaar, republican congressman from michigan and chairman of the u.s. house of representatives' "special committee on u.s.-china strategic competition" (hereinafter referred to as the "china committee"), also "joined in" and said that chinese companies pose a major "national security risk" to the u.s. shipbuilding industry.

what is ridiculous is that mullainal claimed that the "china committee" recently discovered that a chinese port machinery manufacturer, which produced 80% of the shore cranes in american ports, "has surveillance capabilities." he even described an ordinary chinese company as a "loaded gun," claiming that the company "may destroy american offshore equipment technology at the request of the chinese government, including during the 'taiwan strait conflict'."

as early as february this year, chinese foreign ministry spokesman mao ning pointed out that the so-called remote control of port cranes by china to collect data is completely nonsense. china firmly opposes the us's generalization of the concept of national security, abuse of state power, and unreasonable suppression of chinese products and enterprises. instrumentalizing and weaponizing economic and trade issues will only increase the security risks of the global production and supply chain, and ultimately hurt others and oneself.

mao ning expressed the hope that the us side can truly respect the principles of market economy and fair competition and provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for chinese companies to operate. china will also continue to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its companies.

xie feng, chinese ambassador to the united states, also pointed out in march this year that china's opportunities cannot be missed, and the prospects for investment in china are even broader. china remains a hot spot for global investment. last year, the number of newly established foreign-funded enterprises increased by 39.7%, and the actual investment in china by france, the united kingdom, and the netherlands increased by 84.1%, 81%, and 31.5%, respectively. magnifying the problems of china's economy with a microscope will not solve its own challenges; treating electric vehicles as "smartphones with wheels" and cranes as "trojan horses" will fall into a cycle of more abuse of national security and more insecurity; turning "de-risking" into "de-china" is to hand over opportunities to others, which will only lead to double losses and multiple losses. more than 70,000 american companies have invested and started businesses in china. the chinese and american economies are closely connected, and forced decoupling will hurt them.

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