As conflicts spiral across the globe, we tend to think wars are won on land and in the air. But critics argue the real battleground and the primary arena is the sea, and sea power the means by which global influence is delivered. 90% of all trade is carried by sea, and many strategists have concluded it is control of the oceans that in a global world enables dominance, as Pax Britannica and Pax Americana demonstrated over the last couple of centuries. Nevertheless, the U.S. navy has shrunk by 50% in 40 years, while China's has doubled in the last 20 years to become the largest in the world.
Should we recognise that naval power is the ultimate determinant of global influence? Is the relative decline of US and Western naval forces a sign of the end of Western dominance and will China be the world power of the future? Or is it a fundamental mistake to see control of the sea as vital in a technological age where ships are easy to target and hard to defend?
Former Vice Admiral Royal Navy officer Duncan Potts, former editor of The Times Simon Jenkins, and writer and China expert Isabel Hilton debate sea power and its role in the new world order.