China is engaged in a campaign to take control of large portions of the South China Sea, including significant portions of the exclusive economic zones of other countries, by conducting various gray zone operations that have allowed China to exert control over the region while avoiding a conventional military response from the United States and its allies and partners. China’s use of various gray zone tactics to assert its territorial claims and achieve its political agenda includes maritime aggression, cyber operations, economic coercion, and online propaganda. As a matter of policy, China views these actions as a continuation of politics rather than warfare, and China’s efforts are purposefully designed to be below the threshold of war.
Center for Maritime Strategy
Hunter Stires | Interviewed by Todd C. Helmus, Krista Romita Grocholski, Tyler Liggett, Ashley L. Rhoades, Scott Savitz, and Keytin Palmer
External Source: RAND Corporation
China is engaged in a campaign to take control of large portions of the South China Sea, including significant portions of the exclusive economic zones of other countries, by conducting various gray zone operations that have allowed China to exert control over the region while avoiding a conventional military response from the United States and its allies and partners. China’s use of various gray zone tactics to assert its territorial claims and achieve its political agenda includes maritime aggression, cyber operations, economic coercion, and online propaganda. As a matter of policy, China views these actions as a continuation of politics rather than warfare, and China’s efforts are purposefully designed to be below the threshold of war.
The full article is available at RAND Corporation
Hunter Stires, Non-Resident Senior Fellow