China Pushing Boundaries<\/h2>\n
These perilous encounters serve two purposes: testing the resolve\u2064 and potential\u200b responses of the U.S.\u2064 and its\u2063 allies, and normalizing \u2064Chinese military aggression as a form of “self-defense.” Each time the U.S. and its \u2063allies voice concerns \u2063about the Chinese military’s behavior, China seizes the opportunity to reassert its right to exercise \u2063sovereignty over its \u2063territory. Consequently, in\u2064 the event of a\u2062 military\u200d conflict with Taiwan, China\u200b can easily justify its military \u2062actions against any country that\u200d attempts to aid \u2064Taiwan on the grounds of self-defense.<\/p>\n
Step three\u200d of Xi’s gray zone \u2062operations over Taiwan commenced in September 2020 when\u200d fighter jets \u200cfrom China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) first\u2064 entered Taiwan’s self-declared \u200dAir Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). Since then, PLA jets have been encroaching into Taiwan’s ADIZ on an almost daily basis. In 2022 \u2063alone, over 1,737<\/a> PLA aircraft violated\u2063 Taiwan’s ADIZ. Exploiting the visit of former \u200dU.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August 2022, the PLA dispatched naval ships across the median line, effectively erasing the unspoken but long-established \u200cmaritime boundary between mainland China \u200band Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait. \u200bBy the \u200dend\u2062 of January\u2063 2024, China had deployed<\/a> \u200b 233 Chinese military aircraft, 110 naval vessels, and numerous spy balloons around Taiwan.\u200b Yet, the \u200crest of the world \u200bhas ceased paying\u200c attention.<\/p>\n
In addition to displaying military might to intimidate Taiwan, China’s other objective, as highlighted by defense analyst Ben Lewis<\/a>,\u2062 is to “alter the\u2064 status quo,” gradually normalizing the\u2064 presence of \u2064PLA aircraft, naval forces, and spy balloons \u2064to the point where Taiwan and its allies accept them as routine occurrences. This strategy aims \u200cto lower their guard or exhaust their capacity to respond when China suddenly transitions \u200bfrom routine activities to \u200bactual military actions.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
Step Four<\/h2>\n
This month, Xi has \u2062initiated step four of\u2062 his gray zone\u2062 operations over Taiwan. For decades, both mainland \u2062China and Taiwan had an understanding that Chinese ships should\u200c refrain \u2062from entering \u200cthe waters surrounding Kinmen,\u2063 Matsu, and \u200bother outlying islands, which are considered restricted areas under \u2062Taiwan’s jurisdiction. However, on February 14, a Chinese speedboat trespassed<\/a> into the waters around Taiwan’s Kinmen,\u200c resulting in\u200d the capsizing and death of two of the four Chinese individuals on board. China’s Taiwan Affairs\u2064 Office (TAO) promptly declared that “there is no such thing as ‘prohibited or restricted’\u200d waters.”<\/p>\n
On February 19, just a few days after the TAO’s statement, a Chinese coast guard ship intercepted<\/a> a Taiwanese tour \u200dboat in Kinmen waters and boarded it. This incident, coupled with \u200bthe TAO’s denial of \u200bmaritime boundaries, has raised alarm in Taiwan. Several Taiwanese scholars pointed out<\/a> that Beijing’s rhetoric and actions amount to “the\u2064 CCP’s destruction of the Taiwan \u200cStrait status quo” \u200dand are intended to promote the territorialization of the Taiwan Strait. They anticipate an imminent influx\u2064 of Chinese militarized fishing boats<\/a> into Taiwan’s waters, setting \u2064the stage \u200bfor\u2062 further gray zone operations or military aggression by Beijing.<\/p>\n
Towards the end of last month, National\u2062 Security \u200dAdviser Jake Sullivan asserted<\/a> that President \u2063Joe Biden’s China strategy\u200d has been successful in “reducing\u2063 tensions and prodding Beijing to engage on\u200d issues critical to U.S. interests.” Given \u2063that Sullivan is responsible for the Biden administration’s foreign policy, his praise of their China \u200cstrategy essentially amounts to \u200dself-congratulation. <\/p>\n
His confidence in the brilliance of their China strategy is both arrogant\u2062 and delusional. Let us\u2064 not forget that just eight days after \u2064Sullivan stated<\/a> that the Middle East was “quiet” on October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a devastating terrorist attack against Israel, \u2064plunging the region into a war\u2064 for\u2062 self-defense. Therefore, when Sullivan displays such unwavering confidence in their China strategy, all of us, particularly those\u2062 in Taiwan, should be\u2063 deeply concerned about the subsequent \u2063aggression China may unleash.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
rnrn <\/p>\n
What are the indicators that China is planning to exert \u200bcontrol over \u2063Taiwan through gray zone operations?<\/h2>\n
China’s Gray Zone Operations: A Threat to\u2062 Taiwan’s Security<\/p>\n
After Taiwan’s voters defiantly voted for Lai Ching-te of the Democratic \u2062Progressive Party (DPP) as their next president in January,\u200c many\u2062 people are eagerly anticipating when communist China’s dictator Xi \u200dJinping will launch\u2062 a military attack on Taiwan. There are alarming indications that Xi is already \u200bmaking strides towards seizing control of Taiwan through cunning “gray zone” operations, and unfortunately, the Biden administration seems \u2062ill-prepared to address China’s aggressive geopolitical expansions.<\/p>\n
A \u201cgray zone\u201d operation refers to “coercive actions that fall short of \u2063armed conflict \u200cbut\u200c go\u200d beyond normal diplomatic, economic, and other activities,” according to the Rand Corporation. China has employed nearly 80\u2062 different gray zone tactics\u200d against its Asian\u200c neighbors over the past few decades, gradually altering\u2064 the regional and international status quo to expand its territorial claims without resorting to military force.<\/p>\n
An illustrative example of China’s gray zone operation can be seen in \u200cits handling of \u200bborder disputes with Bhutan. China has constructed three new villages within the Beyul \u2062region,\u2064 which is\u2064 internationally recognized as Bhutan’s territory.\u200d These villages accommodate hundreds of Chinese residents, military bases, and\u2063 administrative centers of the Chinese Communist\u2064 Party. China’s actions directly violated its promise to Bhutan that it would not unilaterally alter\u200b the border’s status quo. Unfortunately, Bhutan\u2062 realized the extent of China’s actions too late, and Beijing \u2063now points to\u200b these Chinese villages in Beyul as\u2062 evidence that the region \u200chas belonged \u2062to\u2063 China since time immemorial.<\/p>\n
Xi appears to be planning to exert\u200c control over \u200cTaiwan through similar gray zone operations, likely due to concerns that a full-scale military invasion<\/a>\u2063 could incur significant costs if the United\u2062 States comes to Taiwan’s defense. The first step in Xi’s gray zone operations\u200c over Taiwan was\u2063 to gain control of \u200cthe South China Sea, a crucial international waterway and trade\u2063 route\u200c relied upon by China’s Asian \u2062neighbors, including Taiwan.<\/p>\n
Between 2013 and 2015, China \u2064constructed \u200dartificial islands and reclaimed over 3,000 acres of land in the South China Sea, facing no \u200copposition from the Obama administration. Despite Xi’s promise to President Barack Obama that\u200b these islands would be used solely for peaceful purposes, satellite images reveal that China has militarized them with runways, ports,\u200d aircraft hangars, radar and sensor equipment,\u200d and other military structures. These \u200dislands would\u200d enable the \u2064Chinese military to swiftly isolate Taiwan from the rest of\u200d the world\u200c and impede aid in the event of a military conflict.<\/p>\n
The Chinese\u2062 government\u2063 established \u200ca new \u200ccity \u200band two administrative districts to oversee these artificial islands and the surrounding waters, further legitimizing its territorial expansion in the \u200bSouth China Sea. \u200dAdditionally, Beijing released a\u200d new \u2064map\u2064 last year, featuring\u2063 a ten-dash line that reaffirms\u2064 China’s claims to nearly the \u2064entire South China Sea and Taiwan as \u200dpart of its territory. The line also extends into the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam. While China’s neighboring\u2064 countries\u200b vehemently reject the map and Beijing’s illegitimate territorial claims, they\u200d find themselves with limited options. Consequently, China has successfully expanded its presence in the \u2062South China Sea through gray zone operations, avoiding \u200ctraditional naval warfare.<\/p>\n
China’s territorial \u200bexpansion on paper has provided justification for Beijing to deploy its coast guard, navy, and\u2062 air force to patrol the South China \u200cSea,\u2064 all under the guise of protecting its sovereignty.\u200d This marks step two of Xi’s gray zone operations: making the Chinese military’s activities in international waters appear as natural as possible. The Chinese military frequently engages in\u2063 dangerous maneuvers in the air and at sea to obstruct the U.S. and its allies from exercising “freedom of navigation” in the South China\u200b Sea.<\/p>\n
These perilous encounters serve two purposes: testing the resolve and potential responses of the U.S. and its allies, \u2064and normalizing Chinese military aggression as \u2062a form of “self-defense.” Each time the \u2064U.S. and its allies voice concerns about the Chinese military’s behavior, China seizes the opportunity to \u2063reassert its right to exercise sovereignty\u200b over its territory. Consequently, in the \u2064event of a military conflict with Taiwan, China can easily justify its military actions against any country that attempts to aid Taiwan on the grounds of self-defense.<\/p>\n
Step three of \u200bXi’s gray zone\u200d operations \u200dover Taiwan commenced in September 2020 when fighter jets from China’s People’s \u2063Liberation Army \u2064(PLA) first entered Taiwan’s \u200cself-declared Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). Since \u2062then, PLA jets have been\u200b encroaching into Taiwan’s ADIZ\u200d on an almost daily basis. In \u200c2022 alone, over 1,737 PLA aircraft\u200b violated Taiwan’s ADIZ. Exploiting the visit of\u2064 former \u200cU.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August 2022, the PLA dispatched naval ships across the median line, effectively erasing the unspoken but long-established maritime boundary between mainland China\u2063 and Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait. By the end of January \u200c2024, China \u2063had deployed 233 Chinese\u200d military aircraft, 110 naval vessels, and numerous spy balloons \u200caround Taiwan.\u2063 Yet, the rest of the world\u2063 has ceased paying attention.<\/p>\n
In addition to \u2062displaying military might to intimidate Taiwan, China’s other objective is to \u2064”alter the \u2063status quo,” gradually normalizing the presence of PLA aircraft, naval forces, and spy balloons to the point where \u200dTaiwan and its\u200c allies \u2063accept them\u2063 as routine occurrences. This strategy aims to lower their guard or exhaust their capacity to respond when China\u2064 suddenly transitions from routine activities to actual military actions.<\/p>\n
This\u200d month, Xi has initiated step four of his gray zone operations over Taiwan. For \u200cdecades, both mainland China and Taiwan had an understanding that Chinese ships should refrain from entering the waters surrounding \u200cKinmen, Matsu, and other outlying islands, which are considered restricted areas under Taiwan’s jurisdiction. However, on February 14, a Chinese speedboat trespassed \u200dinto the waters around Taiwan’s Kinmen,\u200b resulting in the capsizing\u200d and death of two\u2063 of the four Chinese individuals on board. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) promptly declared that “there is no such thing as ‘prohibited or restricted’ waters.”<\/p>\n
On February 19, just a few\u200c days after the TAO’s statement, a \u200dChinese coast guard ship intercepted a Taiwanese\u200c tour boat in Kinmen waters and boarded it. This incident, coupled with\u200d the TAO’s denial of maritime boundaries, \u2063has raised alarm in\u200c Taiwan. Several Taiwanese scholars pointed out that Beijing’s rhetoric\u2064 and actions amount \u2064to\u2064 “the \u200cCCP’s destruction \u200cof \u200dthe Taiwan Strait status quo” and\u200d are intended to promote the territorialization of the Taiwan Strait. They anticipate an imminent influx\u200b of Chinese militarized fishing boats into Taiwan’s waters, setting the \u2062stage for further escalations.<\/p>\n
It is imperative for the international community, including the Biden administration, to\u2063 recognize the threat posed by China’s gray zone\u200b operations and take appropriate measures to counter them. Taiwan’s sovereignty and security hang in the balance, and swift action \u200dis necessary to prevent further \u200daggression \u200dand protect regional stability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After Taiwan’s voters chose Lai Ching-te as their next president, concerns arise about when China’s Xi Jinping will launch a military attack. Signs indicate Xi’s advancement in gaining control over Taiwan through “gray zone” operations, raising alarm among many. The world watches anxiously for further developments in this tense situation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":536,"featured_media":2183539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/32903293800_50c5866e9e_k-e1708544737648.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2183538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/32903293800_50c5866e9e_k-e1708544737648.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/536"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2183538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2183539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2183538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2183538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2183538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}