[News Terms] China's Increasingly Overt 'Gray Zone Tactics' Toward Taiwan

'Gray zone operation' is a tactic that causes harm through methods that are not clear military attacks, such as provocations by militias or civilian armed vessels instead of regular troops.

The maritime militia established in 1949 to repel the attack by the Kuomintang forces of Taiwan is the origin of China's gray zone operations. China's maritime militia adopted the Soviet Navy's 'young school' strategy from the 1920s, employing well-trained small vessel fleets to confront large fleets.

In August last year, a Chinese warship was sailing in the waters off Pingtan Island, Fujian Province, the closest point to Taiwan.
[Photo by Pingtan AFP/ Yonhap News]

Known as the "Little Blue Men" because they operate blue fishing boats, China's maritime militia usually engages in fishing but is deployed in combat during emergencies. They played roles in the 1974 Paracel Islands naval battle and in obstructing the US Navy's Impeccable ship's marine survey activities in 2009. They also frequently appear in our West Sea, engaging in illegal fishing and leading China's maritime territorial expansion through reef construction.

The international community began recognizing the problems when Thomas Schelling's 1967 publication, "Arms and Influence," presented the gradual and ambiguous characteristics of this tactic.

Gray zone operations are a kind of deceptive tactic that continuously carries out indirect attacks with unclear intentions and motives rather than clear military attacks. Since they are not regulated under international law, the international community is struggling to devise countermeasures. Recently, China's gray zone operations against Taiwan have become increasingly blatant, raising calls for South Korea to remain vigilant as well.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 17th that China is intensifying military pressure by dispatching People's Liberation Army aircraft and warships near Taiwan. Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense detected 15 Chinese PLA aircraft and 16 warships within one day until 6 a.m. on the 15th.

China has been harming Taiwan through methods that are not clear military attacks, such as sending aircraft into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) or violating the median line. Representative cases include dispatching 14 warships near Taiwan when then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August last year, and sending 12 warships in one day when Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the United States last April.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.