Navy's Increasing Focus on Middle East Is Opportunity for China

The U.S. Navy's increasing focus on the Middle East, amid the intensifying battle between Israel and Hamas, is opening up opportunities for China to step in and fill the void elsewhere.

Even as the Navy struggles to grow past 300 ships to catch up to the rapidly expanding Chinese navy, which has more than 370, America has decided not to concentrate its current seafaring might in the Pacific or even in Europe, where Russia continues its war in Ukraine. Instead, the Navy appears to have fully shifted its focus toward generating and projecting a large presence in the Middle East.