China Security: China’s Strategy to Bar Other Nations From Disputed Waters Is Nearly Complete

All the saber rattling in the world won’t do a thing if China is able to successfully implement its anti-access strategy in the South China Sea. China’s deployment of the strategy is likely nearing completion.

An island that China is building on the Fiery Cross Reef in the South China Sea. The Chinese regime is now deploying "anti-access" weapons in the region. Cliff Owen/AP

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All the saber rattling in the world won’t do a thing if China is able to successfully implement its anti-access strategy in the South China Sea. China’s deployment of the strategy is likely nearing completion.

Defense analysts have warned that China is working on a strategy to lock the United States out of the South and East China Sea with what they call anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) systems and capabilities.

This would give China control of the Asia-Pacific region, and, among other things, make it difficult for the United States to intervene if the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were to invade Taiwan.

Dean Cheng, a leading expert on the Chinese military, warned in a July 2014 report for The Heritage Foundation that the Chinese military was “comprehensively modernizing” forces, and incorporating A2/AD systems ranging from anti-ship missiles to political warfare methods, including legal, public opinion, and psychological warfare.

The world has now watched as China deployed these weapons and capabilities, over the last couple years.

China has recently deployed jets, radar, and anti-air missiles on islands in the South China Sea. It may also be building a new helicopter base for anti-submarine warfare, along with refueling stops scattered through the region. Chinese defense analysts are now calling for Chinese ships to ram and fire warning shots at U.S. ships passing through the region. Others are calling for the CCP to deploy anti-ship missiles and other advanced weapons.

When the CCP’s weapons and strategies used in the South China Sea are viewed as a whole, it now has systems to attack targets in the air, sea, and undersea. And it has accompanied this with a near constant barrage of propaganda and legal claims meant to change global perceptions on its actions.

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