Chinese Scholar: World War III Will Probably Be Result Of Maritime Disputes

A professor at one of China’s military universities, the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University, believes that a third World War is a possibility, and China needs to be prepared for it. In an editorial in the state-run newspaper, Global Times, professor and author Han Xudong says that nations are collectively involved in “an era of new forms of global war.”

Previously undisputed territories, like outer space, the digital landscape and the oceans have become part of the international battlefield, Han writes in his op-ed, noting that “the number of countries involved is unprecedented.”

Han points to ongoing maritime disputes as sources of conflict that will eventually escalate into a world war. “Judging from the contention of the global sea space, the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific and Indian Ocean have seen the fiercest rivalry. It’s likely that there will be a third world war to fight for sea rights.”

China is currently embroiled in disputes involving sea rights, particularly in the South China Sea. China lays claim to maritime areas that Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia all also lay claim to. In the East China Sea, China insists that its maritime borders include a cluster of resource-rich islands called the Diaoyu in Chinese. Japan, on the other hand, says that the islands — which it refers to as Senkaku — lie in Japanese waters. With China’s increasing military presence and political rhetoric over these and other islands, some observers predict that maritime claims are something over which China is willing to go to war.

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