Military Bases and Commercial Ports Reveal Strategies to Extend Global Reach | WSJ U.S. vs. China

[@davidstiefel]

I was interviewed for this and find it quite misleading in making the overseas presence of the US and China look comparable when they are profoundly quantitatively and qualitatively different. To compare the two is like comparing apples and oranges or, more accurately, watermelons and grapes. There is a profound difference in military capabilities between a network of around 750 US military bases abroad and Chinese port access overseas. The former also costs the US around $80 billion a year, while the Chinese government surely makes money from its port infrastructure overseas. The video fails to note scores of additional locations where the US military has its own port access agreements, not to mention airfield landing rights and resupply materials (neither are part of my bases count). The video also uncritically presents longstanding Pentagon fearmongering about China's search for a second--to now, nonexistent--base in Africa without noting extensive ongoing US base construction near China's borders in East Asia and, more recently, in Europe. The video concludes with the Pentagon's professed concerns about the "lack of transparency" in China's negotiations with port host nations. This is ironic given that US base agreements (and negotiations) with host nations are almost universally kept secret when these de facto treaties should be publicly available.

[@davidstiefel]

The full WSJ title alone is highly misleading and should be changed. The title inaccurately presents Chinese ports as military bases or outposts. Without additional evidence showing otherwise, commercial ports are not military outposts even if they can host military vessels. A more accurate title would read: "U.S. vs. China: Military Bases and Commercial Ports Reveal Strategies to Extend Global Reach: Experts say the U.S. and China have different objectives in setting up overseas outposts."

[@regulareverydaynormalguy8789]

i wish i had better writing skills

[@zukacs]

thanks david!

[@TheMap1997]

@@davidstiefel thanks David for your integrity 👍

[@boyuanguan3363]

Thank you David, the watermelons vs grapes comparison by itself is clearer than this entire video.

[@sarahjenkins7064]

I’m surprised the WSJ didn’t list all Chinese restaurants as military bases as well.

[@rabbitazteca23]

loool

[@yzx8828]

they will if war starts

[@archosfanguy]

Lol

[@Fair-minded.]

Lol

[@livelirah9109]

Yeah i was surprised too 😀😀

[@Jry088]

Port terminals and military bases are totally different things.

[@ds-js6545]

U don’t know that

[@Huppy1234567]

@@ds-js6545 they arent the same. you think the US would let china station military vessels in these commercial ports on their west coast? furthermore, governments can just seize them back. you already seen russia do this with the sakhalin 1 oil rig.

[@invijr]

@@Huppy1234567 yeah, host country would still have sovereignty over the port , and gov agencies would still be there anyway, like port police, and customs agency, coast guard, post authority etc. Its not like they can shut the door and stockpile weapons and troops secretly. People have never been to a commercial port before have they.....

[@Huppy1234567]

@@invijr Well said, and yeah people not considering large part of chinas navy is designed for a Taiwan invasion so most of their craft can’t operate far from shores with few exceptions of course.

[@muovi2463]

@@ds-js6545 My dude. The US has multiple of these "chinese bases" on it's own land. You think they would allow that if they were military bases?

[@rienvermeulen5051]

America: We have more then 500 bases in other countries. China: We have one base in another country America: The world is doomed china is going for world domination!

[@Alberto-xw8vx]

US: +750 military bases abroad. China: 3 military bases abroad. Different strategies...yes...yeah

[@Pray4urenemies2day]

What you're saying is not true there's far more than three

[@leonzspotg]

@@Pray4urenemies2day list them all please

[@rh5340]

@@Pray4urenemies2day look at what western propaganda has done to you! China bad, China bad! Blame China!

[@daisangen2559]

@@Pray4urenemies2day 0:27 is the list of *COMMERCIAL PORT* not military

[@TomNook.]

@@Pray4urenemies2day 750?

[@sweetchiliheat7866]

Are they comparing an Chinese-owned port to an USA-owned military base? Yep. I seen it right

[@billywoon6084]

It's a little exaggeration. China is outwardly strong and inwardly weak

[@kona_brew]

Yes, and a rock in the middle of SCS all of sudden became a military base for china… since china is never transparent, you never thought their footprint can become something much more very rapidly???

[@MrKnowledgeCenter]

Chinese companies are owned by the chinese government. Anything chinese companies do is what the Chinese government is doing

[@mauroducusin7106]

What about Chinese militarized artificial island in SCS

[@kamsunleong6648]

@@mauroducusin7106 imagine comparing US naval bases in Diego Garcia. Okinawa or Guam with these tiny speck of islands in SCS.

[@alumni2a692]

Can’t compare military bases and shares in a container port terminal 😂

[@WrongVlad]

Yeah I’m like the Chinese using commercial ports to ship commercial goods does not qualify as military expeditionary positions…

[@julioduan7130]

This is the quality of western media these days. They just want people around the world to fear about China’s development.

[@backemf89]

At this moment American Military Industrial complex mouthpieces like WSJ need only lame excuses to push WhiteHouse to increase Military Budget further, like $1 trillion.

[@2020m-x7d]

😂

[@itselevenfiftyfive3833]

American propaganda

[@TomNook.]

0:27 You are unashamedly comparing US MILITARY bases with Chinese COMMERCIAL ports. Unbiased press indeed.

[@abdulmohamed2577]

What's the difference

[@CoolPage994]

Chinese shouldn’t be allowed to own anything. Be lucky that that entire land hasn’t been turned to glass already

[@kevingu7255]

@@abdulmohamed2577 difference is many of the red dots shown in the chart is inside US, last time I check US hasn’t become a Chinese colony yet.

[@abdulmohamed2577]

@@kevingu7255 nah they saying those a commercial ports they didn't say those are colonies.....

[@markosmataasii2000]

@@abdulmohamed2577 the difference? seriously are you that dumb or that brainwashed? commercial ports are basically designed to dock commercial ships and oftentimes flooded with containers. Have you been in a commercial port especially a huge container terminal? You can't just dock huge many military ships and expect it can be converted it to a military assets not within hours and not in months..lol.

[@maolo76]

Soon they will declare all Chinese restaurants as Intelligence hub.

[@dwchen1]

When US dare to declare Chinese restaurants as intelligence hub China will retaliate by banning all McDonald's, KFC, A&W, Starbucks, Subway, Wendy's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Domino's, Dunkin Donuts, Taco Bell, etc... Do you know how many tens of thousands of them in China alone...? When that happens that will be tens of billions of dollars in revenues lost annually and all their shareholders will be on all out war using their lobbyists 'invading' Capitol Hill.

[@astaniorc2298]

😂😂

[@efeddwdw9782]

Why are we comparing military bases to ports??

[@backemf89]

At this moment American Military Industrial complex mouthpieces like WSJ need only lame excuses to push WhiteHouse to increase Military Budget further, like $1 trillion.

[@sarahjenkins7064]

How else would we create this fear of China and then increase the military budget another 10% this year?

[@Grenadier311]

@@sarahjenkins7064 The forceful "unification" of China is a very real proposition, and a 10% increase would be the minimum needed to keep apace with China's breakneck military expansion.

[@sarahjenkins7064]

@@Grenadier311 what would 10% or 1000% do when we are dealing with a nuclear power? Are you willing to get nuked in defense of Taiwan that isn't even recognized as a country? In other words, are you willing to die to defend a piece of land that is recognized as part of China from China?

[@Grenadier311]

@@sarahjenkins7064 As long as Beijing knows it will be nuked back, we probably won't need to find out. We're treaty bound to come to Taiwan's aid, and would lose all credibility as a security guaranteur and superpower if we stood down while China made a land grab of a treaty ally. As long as our subs swim undetected, no adversary can nuke us with impunity.

[@ASK-ko9qx]

Umm you know you're wrong when you show China having military base in US when America won't allow it.

[@TimaWeynne]

the us at this point is a fading power and they know it the future of the world is in the far east middle east and Africa and don't even mention Europe because they won't make the it

[@sarahjenkins7064]

Just more western propaganda.

[@archangel9975]

Doesn't prevent mostly dumb American to believe it and pay more tax$$$ to Department of Homeland Security

[@arminius6506]

Here's the truth. 🇨🇳 foreign military bases and facilities: 1 🇺🇲 Foreigner military bases and facilities : 800+

[@phenotypeb6843]

But China is apparently the expansionist one

[@seanpruitt6801]

The port of sand Diego LA and Long Beach along with Seattle are not in anyway owned by chinese companies. That use to be the case but not anymore. That first map is extremely misleading 😅

[@sentiencepsn2714]

Realistically, China does not have the ability to project power globally. At best, you’d be looking at another generation or twenty years of global infrastructure and ship development for them to get there. Just having a network of friendly ports is not sufficient to maintain and operate a modern navy effectively.

[@jeylonblake3407]

China has a fully capable navy , our own intelligence has made that quite clear . They’re building 4 more aircraft carriers to add to the 3 they already have

[@huas5350]

China has no military bases: "China does not have the ability to project power globally" China has some military bases: "China's threat to the free world" Conclusion: In short, the Chinese are bad guys. 😅

[@mikehawk4856]

Keep telling yourself that as china slowly takes over the world

[@TheArchevil]

China has been governing the majority of Asia for thousands of years. Pretty sure they can manage adopting more territories in the next 5 millenia. And China has a growing economy, while the US is collapsing. There is no comparing the two.

[@kelvin4833]

@@TheArchevil clearly you haven’t seen the Chinese economy in the last 2 years it’s in shambles

[@李存勖-n5z]

Compare military bases with shared commercial ports makes me laugh.

[@NightwatchN8]

The fakenews is hilarious ain't it

[@ErnestJay88]

Chinese ports are not military bases, it only use for repair and resupply, meanwhile military base are capable to launch military operation in the region, more than "rearm, repair, and resupply" only.

[@datianlongan5567]

WSJ, you missed counting thousands of Chinese military bases in big cities around the world. They are typically called Chinatown 😅

[@钟离的狗-g4n]

hhhhhhhh

[@clarkzhg]

you made my day lol

[@canpek545]

And tens of millions CCP spies around the world. They are typically called Chinese😅.

[@rabbitazteca23]

@@canpek545 and people like you are typically called racists

[@tomgreene7942]

Plus all of the commando aged students in cities across the US, China and the Globe from both countries and even other countries. It all comes down to intent. That used to be the concern of mine until I saw the Will Smith movie - i robot. Then I realized that even a small country could in the future dominate, as the city of Rome once did.

[@RezaurRatul]

I am having fun watching America's propaganda news. Good job Wall Street Journal.

[@Lena-vw6ye]

This is so misleading. China's ports allow goods and services throughout the world as they are mostly the factory of the world. They invested in infrastructure for trade and economic progress. They provide economic benefits for both sides and just because they house some military vessels does not make it a comparison to the 750 military bases around the world that US funds and have secret agreements with the countries that host these military bases for US. China on the other hand is building infrastructure, providing goods & services, and unbeatable economic finance.

[@NightwatchN8]

Fakenews at its finest!

[@Lena-vw6ye]

@@NightwatchN8 Keep drinking US propaganda.

[@NightwatchN8]

@@Lena-vw6ye No thanks I don't drink 😎

[@Lena-vw6ye]

@@NightwatchN8 Just self propaganda by liking your own comment right? lololol

[@thenewwayhome]

This presentation paints a lot of perspectives about Uncle Sam. And then there's China...well. Pretty interesting.

[@59gris]

?

[@2020m-x7d]

?

[@carved6749]

I thought this video would compare and contrast how a US base is structured vs how a Chinese base is structured

[@TheArchevil]

US does something for decades: ... China does the same US: *Surprised Pikachu face*

[@shengliang2105]

It's called hypocrisy. lol

[@accountforcommenting]

China is dictatorship who wants to use the world and ready destroy it for it's own purpose

[@accountforcommenting]

@@shengliang2105 because you don't know the difference between them

[@alexanderharo4550]

@@shengliang2105 🇺🇸 does it better ling ling

[@shengliang2105]

@@alexanderharo4550 Everything takes time. Don't worry, we coming for ya whitey.

[@matthewcantrell5289]

Djibouti loves hosts a lot of outside countries military bases. They rake in a fair amount of government funding from that.

[@kalui96]

most of that funding trickles up to a handful of people (fk the country tho)

[@Aitelly]

Love the Animation

[@andoniazcarraga1637]

You are comparing commercial ports with literal hundreds of military bases, how in the world is that comparable?

[@optimusprime4443]

I laughed when saw that the pentagon said they have about 500 bases when in reality it is about 800.

[@likourgos13]

We have one sheriff. We don't need another one

[@_thacieng]

You shouldn’t compare the US to China militarily. Anybody that has lived in China knows that it is not a warmongering country unlike the USA 🇺🇸

[@DucaTech]

Chinese bases in US Coast. That's definitely news to me. Well done WSJ.

[@anwitmondal6417]

0:21 No base in Afghanistan anymore 🌚

[@JogBird]

sounds like the us needs to spend more on its military, not enough bases

[@heartbl3295]

Comparing military ports with commercial ports? Genius

[@jimtso9802]

China has one overseas base, and the US has 700+ overseas bases. And the US still feel threatened, shouldn't the Chinese feel more threatened?

[@kotomoidealmcky]

750 cries of 3. China oversea base is to protect their trading route, not to show power like the US.

[@markhough1027]

No USA bases in Ireland. Shannon airport is used for a stop over for unarmed American soldiers but does not have a military presence apart from the Irish defence forces.

[@timcallinan]

I was wondering the same myself

[@aofeizhang8735]

Actually, the US also has a "military base" in Beijing(inside the ambassy), which makes the US the only country has this privilege in China.

[@ShivMaple]

Not true.

[@nobody687]

Lots of people don't seem to understand that global trade needs naval protection, or ships would be raided constantly. Only the usn could have done this. And a navy needs bases.

[@bojiang66]

Calling China one of the two superpowers, I think, is overstated although part of me enjoyed it.

[@ringsuka3505]

western media in weekdays：China is new superpower！ meanwhile weekends：China is Collapsing！

[@rabbitazteca23]

@@attsealevel WSJ is not Chinese sponsored. In fact, it seems many of their reporting are anti-China

[@tomgreene7942]

Well, you can enjoy it, especially since even though the US pays about 4-5 times more money for its military, in terms of manhour costs, China pays 60 times more for its military. Huge difference in buying power. It's just a matter of time till China completely dominates the landscape.

[@meleney5406]

@@tomgreene7942 Oh no, China is just a developing country, their people are still poor, their army has not fought in any war for over 40 years, China is a harmless rabbit.

[@dddddh1]

Is China weaker than Soviet Union? Is America better than China?

[@yuluoxianjun]

Cold tip:USA also has military base in DJIBOUTI

[@tbphillips9649]

Yea it was said in the video

[@chi-jenyang9752]

This report completely forget to mention the Chinese military bases on Firely Cross Reef, Subi Reef, and Mischief Reef.

[@leaf16nut]

I tell my girlfriend I want to be in *Djibouti* to protect her security and economic interests too, doesn't work out so well..

[@sayedmahbub8933]

Hahahah

[@sussypole6840]

Is Issac okay? my dude looks like his about to get heat exhaustion from making sure China looks the worst.

[@drakehonest2]

Hello how are you doing?

[@draker769]

Uh, why worry about commercial port?

[@TomNook.]

because a comparative map of military bases would show that China aren't a threat at all. Which doesn't suit the US narrative

[@guardianoffire8814]

@@TomNook. Its because Chinese companies are required to do what the govt wants without any challenge in court and every Chinese corporation now has to reserve seat on the board for CCP official representatives. As such they are seen as extension of Chines govt no different than state owned enterprise. Chinese companies played a major part in siphoning off PPE equipment out of other countries shipping them to China during the beginning of the pandemic; causing PPE shortage. Then govts then paying China 3 times the rate for shoddily made PPE equipment. But it is true that US is just as dangerous to other countries than China but the media rarely makes them into the villain. Like avoiding admitting the chaos across Africa is all the weapons that West sold to Qaddafi ending up on the black market after the chaos NATO created in Libya.

[@farmbrandltd.6878]

love china 🇧🇩❤🇨🇳

[@darzellenone7626]

I've said for years we should get out of NATO

[@Dawson2011H]

The claim of commercial ports can serve as bases are incorrect. Commercial port access needs hosting country’s permission while leased base doesn’t. See the difference?

[@auro1986]

different bases with different strategies for different news channels. wsj can choose any base

[@litufox]

Always America feeling threatened by the progress of other countries.

[@___Truth___]

WSJ we truly respect your dedication to high quality journalism but it’s moments like this that has your audience THAT EXPECTS COGENT/SOUND ANALYSIS of major topics end up feeling disappointed, please, you guys are one of the last bastions of balanced news & journalism that has integrity & prestige DON’T NORMALIZE THIS SORT OF LAZY JOURNALISM

[@lpbszn2957]

"Only we're allowed to station forces in foreign lands and expand our geopolitical presence."

[@michoacanpresente5076]

China is not in Mexico😂😂😂

[@Theiliteritesbian]

Did you just ask that guy what a military base is?

[@AZ-hj8ym]

Stop beating war drum . World Peace! The Chinese Jdibudi base was built under UN mandate.

[@MrSupernova111]

Go watch cartoons if you don't want the news.

[@lastChang]

You cannot compare Good vs Evil

[@NotgestgorO513]

you cant compare the evil and the evil

[@alexanderharo4550]

🥱😴💤💤

[@shikharashish4839]

Correction: devil vs devil

[@brooklyn560]

There’s no such thing as good

[@kurtwinslow2670]

@@brooklyn560 Unless you're willing to admit that evil isn't presant in reality, then good has to exist. For evil is and always will be a corruption\distortion of good. In fact logically good can exist with out evil but evil can't exist without good because evil is dependent upon good for it's very existance. For example you can have a apple and a bad apple but the bad apple is dependent upon the good apple for the ability to define that it's bad. You never need a bad apple to define a good apple logically speaking. The same goes for people or for anything that's created, good is independant of bad but bad is dependent upon good. Now who determines what's good and what's bad is another topic.

[@einroboter1301]

Shameless media.

[@conor4867]

Ngl the Chinese have built a pretty good port there

[@chittodnaresh9568]

the thing which people are not getting is that china has been deploying military vessels and and aircrafts consistently in its commercial ports. For example in 2022, during the sri lankan crisis, china posted aircraft carriers and space tracking spy radar ships to prevent and/or collect data on indian nuclear icbm missile test in its state owned sri lankan port of hambantota. It has almost permanantly stationed destroyers in qatar and gwadar(baluchistan) to successfully restrict any kind of indian naval exersises and free merchant ship movements in the arabian sea

[@iamaloafofbread8926]

This video is amusing for sure.

[@yaweichen9773]

biased media

[@jasonmelbaus9077]

Perhaps a more comprehensive comparison is warranted, including capabilities to wage war using economic and trade reach, manufacturing and supply chains (especially for critical commodities, goods and services), Cyber, Espionage network.

[@VeeZee777]

Wait till yall find out that most of the Host Nations don't want Americans to leave.

[@Cryptokelly53611]

When do organizations start questioning the need for so many bases?

[@AlexNH56]

The fact that US let the red dots happen on our land is just sad.

[@muovi2463]

Yea, because they are there for TRADE, NOT MILITARY. This is straight up propaganda to make you scared of China.

[@AlexD-kq1hb]

military bases vs ports for trade...cmon, ist it obvious whos the big bully?

[@raptordudu]

how do you argue one overseas base is a threat to hundreds of oversea bases? watch this video

[@bdie313]

does this video place dots of chinese military interests in the USA?

[@iamaloafofbread8926]

Funny enough, not even the U.S. government know how many bases they actually have.

[@nsebast]

If you compare the number of Chinese Restaurants in US vs US military bases outside of US. Then you get a close contest.

[@mahmmodeldigwy1265]

US have more than 800 bases over seas according to pentagon. Maybe more classified bases

[@asemu19]

US bases vs China towns

[@5minutescifi]

That’s the first time I’ve seen the Pangaea US base in Australia on a map

[@zulu505]

Johnny Harris made an amazing video on US military bases

[@abrarkhann71]

Bruh the comparison is silly 😂

[@Akshayysk]

Irony is USA received Nobel peace award after 10 wars 🙂

[@dylantay3689]

More spending for the military for more war, death and destructions. Madness.

[@Grenadier311]

As long as autocracties exist to pursue their interests, the rest of us will need to defend ours forcefully if need be.

[@uk6728]

all our allies have more port terminals than China and military out post and port terminals are not same

[@necromancer7712]

“China “ - in voice of Trump 😂

[@muovi2463]

This video is the most obvious pro-US propaganda I have seen this year. GJ

[@sahilaharodia8092]

Nice

[@Grenadier311]

While the comparison is disingenuous, China's own version of imperialist expansionism isn't imaginary.

[@cobaltblue2756]

I don't want any of two powers set up military base in my country..

[@alvarez6487]

7:10 There is a big distinctive difference between commercial ports and military bases. The map is very misleading.

[@julwiezdeghorz5089]

Very funny, the US which has more than 500 military bases around the world is asking for transparency to other countries planning to establish military bases abroad. 😂

[@ankushyadav1688]

At last time came for us media to regulate a report on us vs china

[@stephengross4704]

But China brings its own civilian work force with it overseas.

[@owenhuu]

The simple fact is American standard is the only standard. A standard which everyone could follow, duplicate, and execute, period.

[@bhimgrg05]

How does a port challenge Military base ? They are 2 different things. Stop painting US as a good guy always.

[@eddiem461]

This video was flawed from the beginning: Comparing military bases to civilian ports almost nullifies this video. The ports have to be deep water ports to allow full naval assets to access the area. Chinas navy barely has the ability to navigate the world without facing issues, compare this to the US which has at a minimum 5 carrier strike group always navigating the world.

[@TatsuyaLS]

Dear WSJ you're missing listing Chinatown around the world's as Military Base too.

[@auxilia5024]

6:17 Is that an LCVP?

[@beaubiden3244]

The Chinese could never top our Camp Lejeune

[@pgtan8819]

I wonder how long US bases can continue in its present form as the $ loses its value.

[@netizencapet]

Thank you for mentioning that ALL IMPORTANT DILEMMA!

[@MCarrick-ss7xc]

Send in the bombers. Rule number one.

[@klarkewang]

Why is this a comparison? Military base vs commercial? This is creating more China phobia

[@nasimabegam83]

*Common sense left the chat.*

[@bearschannel9915]

When did China have a base in us🤣

[@JAKphoenixify]

0:55 OH REALLY? WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED?

[@user_thelongwayaround]

Why is there a dot of Chinese base in Taiwan?

[@globalcitizen5918]

Soooo many ccp supporters comments. The only difference is one country is democratic, other is completely autocratic.

[@tallymeban-anas]

TF you mean there's chinese bases in the U.S ?🤯

[@itinnyi]

PF Changs