Financial Times Interviews Military Head of US Navy

choi

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Transcript: Interview with Admiral Gary Roughead, US chief of naval operations, on January 14 2011 at the Pentagon. Financial Times (FT), Jan 19, 2010.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/993b0ca4-234d-11e0-8389-00144feab49a.html

My comment:
(1) Based on the interview, two reports appears in today's newspaper.

(a) Richard McGregor, US fleet chief voices doubts on Chinese navy. FT, Jan 19, 2010.

(b) Jeff Dyer and Richard McGregor, Beijing builds navy to hold US at bay. FT, Jan 19, 2010.

(2) Notes to the transcript:
(a) chief of naval operations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_of_Naval_Operations
(the highest ranking officer in the United States Navy (unless the chairman or vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is a naval officer) and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.[1] The CNO reports directly to the Secretary of the Navy"

Note: Secretary of the Navy in US is always a civilian.

(b) Plan in British (or PLAN in American English) stands for PLA Navy.
(c) Admiral Roughead states, "They [PLAN] have been talking about this [anti-acess mechanism] for a long time, being about to operate and indeed fight in, in their terms, * * * And as I deal with my navy, I don’t want to be denied options."

on one's own terms: "in accordance with one's wishes : in one's own way <prefers to live on his own terms>"

Both definitions are from www.m-w.com.
(d) In the next breath, the admiral says, "But I also would submit that * * *

submit (vt): "to put forward as an opinion or contention <we submit that the charge is not proved>"
(e) The admiral opines, "We highlight in our strategy two areas that are of primary importance to us as a navy – the western Pacific and the Indian Ocean region and the Arabian Gulf – because that in my mind is where global prosperity is going to be generated from. That doesn’t mean that we are not engaged elsewhere.
(f) Make no bones about. The Phrase Finder, undated.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/make-no-bones-about.html
(g) The admiral also says, "If we jumped on every new weapon that came out and looked at it through a straw * * *

Look at it through a straw is identical to Chinese phrase 以管窺天: look in a very limited scope.
(h) Commentiong on "counter measures against the Chinese build-up and their anti-access measures," the admitral replies,

"I would say that we are the pre-eminent navy in anti-submarine warfare and we are also the pre-eminent navy in integrated air and missile defence, to include ballistic missile defence. That is why we are being tapped to lead the phased adaptive approach in Europe – because we have those capabilities. Submarines are also an anti-access capability, but we have been doing anti-submarine warfare pretty much since the submarine came into being

(i) In response to the question that "excitable headline writers like to talk about the ASBM [anti-ship ballistic missile] as a game-changer. Is that accurate?"

The answer: "I think it is a bit of an overstatement. [Unlike land Iand-based TARGETS], I would submit the beauty of naval forces is their flexibility, and the challenges of finding, targeting and then hitting them. It is a new capability and a new application of a ballistic missile

(j) The admiral remarks, "I would say that [5 years ago] when I made that comment that they were much further ahead of where a lot of the estimates would put it. But as you get into higher-end capability, I am not so sure that the rate of acceleration is the same. When you start moving into higher-end capabilities, the incremental improvements are harder, more costly and more complex. * * * I speak from my own experience in that regard of eking out increases in performance at the high end and in complex areas.

Note the past tense of the first sentence.

(k) Regarding "whether you should have further targets for forward basing in the Pacific. Do you see that as desirable or necessary?"

The admiral maintains "we have a forward-deployed naval force in Japan. Having an aircraft carrier in Japan is like having 2&frac12; aircraft carriers at a home port stateside. We position some submarines forward in Guam. Again that is a multiplier of force structure.

(l) The reporter hints in a question: "I was quite struck to hear talk on arriving here to hear discussion of the possibility of having more bases in Asia. Some people refer to this as 'places not bases,' not of the kind that you see in Yokosuka or Guam or Okinawa."

The admiral did not directly answer, except by mentioning Dubai and Singapore.

(m) The admiral sticks to his gun:

"There is no question that there is a difference of opinion as to what we can do in an EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone; with China]. I am very comfortable with the position we have. It is in accordance with UNCLOS. We are doing what we are legally allowed to do.

(n) Refering to China's aircraft ambition, the admiral asserts:

"My expectation is that they will have one. I think they will want to move to an indigenous one. * * * the fact that the Chinese are building one speaks a little about of the value of them. The other part is – having an aircraft carrier is one thing. Knowing how to operate it and being very competent in those operations is something very different. The other aspect that comes into play is the capacity of aircraft carriers is not the same and the power you can generate is not the same. We have moved into the super carrier realm. We generate a lot of capacity off of that.

(o) China has begun calling the South China Sea a core interest. The admiral concludes,

"We tend to think in the US in terms of sea lanes. We pull 9 per cent of our protein from the oceans. In Asia, it is about 26 or more. * * * Fishing is something we tend not to think of.

Perhaps the reporter was surprised by the answer, so he presses adhead, "Most tend to think it is about undersea resources?"

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