Since ancient times, the ocean has always been the object of contention among countries. As early as more than two thousand years ago, the ancient Roman philosopher Cicero pointed out that "whoever controls the ocean controls the world". /kloc-more than 0/00 years ago, American naval strategist Mahan proposed that the ocean is the main factor of history and the ultimate determinant of national wealth and strength. When mankind enters the 2 1 century, is the ocean still as important as before? Today, how should we understand what the ocean means to us?

First of all, the ocean has unparalleled strategic value.

Looking at the map, we can find that the land is divided into several pieces and isolated from each other, but the ocean is a whole, through which we can reach any continent in the world. In this regard, Lieutenant General Philip Columb, a British naval critic in the19th century, once famously said, "The frontier of our empire is the enemy's coastline." This means that as long as a country has strong maritime power, it can exert influence on the political process and development of any coastal area, and it can also control the channels of foreign exchanges of other countries by controlling the ocean. So the ocean gives powerful countries an opportunity to project their power into the distance. In modern times, western powers have ruled many countries in the world by controlling the oceans. Accordingly, coastal defense has become the weakness of weak countries' security. After 1840, imperialist countries invaded China by sea. From 1840 to 100 in 1940, foreign countries invaded China 479 times from the sea, 84 of which were large, forcing China to sign a large number of unequal treaties. This situation is just as the great navigator Zheng He once said: "If a country wants to be rich and strong, it cannot ignore the ocean. Wealth comes from the sea, and danger comes from the sea ... Once other heads of state take Nanyang, China will be in danger. " Dr. Sun Yat-sen emphasized that sea power "survives when it goes to China, but dies when it goes to the people", and the Chinese nation should "manage Beiyang and Nanyang".

Our neighbor India lost its national independence from the sea. Panikar, India's first ambassador to China and founder of India's modern sea power theory, said: "A careful study of various forces in Indian history will undoubtedly realize that whoever controls the Indian Ocean will master India." Indeed, from the end of 15, da Gama bypassed the Cape of Good Hope and arrived in India, and discovered a new route to the east. European powers Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Britain and France rushed to India from the sea, opening the door to India with powerful naval bombing, and the countries along the Indian Ocean gradually became their colonies or semi-colonies. Originally, Columbus's voyage was also to India, but it was wrong. He went to America.

Today, although mankind has entered the information age and all kinds of advanced weapons and equipment emerge one after another, the strategic position of the ocean has not declined. Taking the Iraq war as an example, the ocean is not only the main channel for the United States to send troops, but also the tactical bombing of carrier aircraft and cruise missiles launched by various ships are indispensable parts of the whole operation. In addition, the military deterrence of the United States in peacetime cannot be separated from the ocean. As the ocean extends in all directions, the US aircraft carrier formation can quickly rush to the location of the crisis and exert influence on the progress of the situation.