Importance of Sea Power

Analysts in the United States fear the unprecedented growth and modernization of China's Navy could lead to problems for the U.S. and its allies, upsetting America's political influence and economic interests in the Southeast Asia maritime region. I argue that China's naval modernization has increased China's political influence—and decreased that of the U.S.—over countries in the China Sea region that do not maintain defense agreements with the United States. Hypotheses from this argument are tested using voting data from United Nations proceedings and naval tonnage data. I find that there is a connection between China's growing Navy and how often countries in the China Sea region have voted in agreement with China (increasing) and the United States (decreasing). Furthermore, it was found that countries in this region with a U.S. military pact acted differently than those that do not maintain such an arrangement, increasing agreement with the United States relative to China.