Last week, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Del Toro visited Japan and South Korea.
As soon as he landed, Toro couldn't wait to visit two of South Korea's shipbuilding giants, HD Hyundai Group (formerly Hyundai Heavy Industries) and Hanwha Marine (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding).
Subsequently, Toro, accompanied by the US ambassador to Japan, Ram Emmanuel, visited the Japanese shipping company.
During the visit, the United States not only discussed with Japan and South Korea the possibility of cooperation in providing maintenance for American ships, but also persuaded Japanese and South Korean shipbuilders to invest in the United States and restart idle shipyards in the United States.
In this regard, Toro highlighted a series of benefits, such as helping to transition from fossil fuels to green energy, reviving the economy, creating jobs, and so on.
But it's not so much persuasion as pleas.
One reason is that the United States is eager to revive its shipbuilding industry, which is the main purpose of Toro's trip.
Last September, Toro launched the "Maritime Strategy" initiative, arguing that the United States needs to reinvigorate its status as a comprehensive maritime power.
Toro believes that the time is ripe for the U.S. maritime industry to cooperate with other shipyards, and advocates bringing in international investment to restart idle U.S. shipyards, including Japan and South Korea.
It is worth mentioning that Toro's visit to Japan and South Korea is also part of this initiative.
The second reason is that China is in a dominant position in the global shipbuilding industry.
Earlier this year, the Pentagon released its first Defense Industry Strategy, which mentioned that the United States' "fast, large-scale" advantage in production capacity is shrinking, in part because of China, the main competitor of the United States.
In the field of shipbuilding, China is the only country in the world that has the capacity to build all 18 major ship types.
According to official data, China's shipbuilding industry increased by 56% of new orders last year, of which expensive ro-ro ship orders accounted for 83% of the world's new orders.
Even the US media pointed out that China accounted for more than half of the world's commercial shipbuilding production last year, while Europe accounted for only 5%, and the United States contributed almost nothing - which is why the United States did not turn to Europe for help.
Since 1981, when Reagan abolished subsidies for commercial shipbuilding, the U.S. shipbuilding industry has declined rapidly, and later experienced "deindustrialization" and the Cold War, and the competitiveness of the U.S. shipbuilding industry has plummeted.
As a result, only four of the original 13 publicly owned shipyards in the United States have been converted into parks and container terminals.
This has also led to a lack of shipbuilding efficiency in the United States, which is said to have been able to build two nuclear submarines a year in the past, but now it can only build a maximum of one a year3 ships.
As more and more shipyards become idle, more work is allocated to existing workers, and wages are not competitive, so fewer and fewer workers are available.
During Toro's visit to Japan, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Emanuel said, "The shipyard is decreasing, but our workload is increasing, and we need to go back to the past."
At a time when the geopolitical situation is extremely unstable, the sense of crisis in the United States is becoming more and more intense, which further contributed to this visit.
So how did Japan and South Korea react to this? Neither nodded nor shook his head.
Although Japan and South Korea have not responded positively, we can see some clues from the press releases of the United States and South Korea.
In a press release issued by the US Navy afterwards, it was mentioned that the two South Korean shipbuilders had "strong interest" in investing in US shipyards, but in the South Korean press release, they only focused on providing maintenance for US ships.
Obviously, South Korea does not want to buy the American account. What's more, there are still great legal risks in investing in American shipyards.
According to U.S. law, in order to ensure U.S. employment and military secrets, U.S. ships are allowed to be repaired and maintained in their own country or in the country, which causes certain problems for foreign investment.
However, that doesn't mean it's impossible. It is understood that two of the seven existing private shipyards in the United States come from abroad, namely Italy and Australia, and are still providing services to the United States.
In addition, the United States, which has experienced "deindustrialization", has a serious hollowing out of its industry, and there is a clear shortage of capital, technical experts and workers. Assuming that Japan and South Korea invest in U.S. shipyards, these issues can be a big obstacle.
Frankly speaking, with the rise of China's shipbuilding industry, even if Japan and South Korea have that heart, I am afraid they will not be able to do so.
According to statistics, South Korea's new orders last year decreased by nearly 40% year-on-year, and many shipping companies were unable to complete the expected shipbuilding targets; Japan's monthly order volume was halved last year, and Japan and South Korea have already taken care of themselves.
China, on the other hand, has the largest market share in the world, and the number of shipbuilding completions last year exceeded that of other countries combined. In this regard, the US media commented that Western shipyards have become "Ragnarok".
Shipbuilding capability is very important for a country, and it is related to the improvement of national defense strength. Although the shipbuilding capacity of China and the United States is currently in a state of "one trade-off", now that the United States has begun to act, we cannot take it lightly.