Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.
To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to upgrade your browser.
2025, Al Jundi
Maritime security threats have risen in recent years, with some of the most prominent cases occurring in the South China Sea. These developments have raised pressing questions about how best to respond to such challenges, particularly as great-power competition intensifies-primarily between China, the United States, and regional adversaries in Southeast Asia. GREY ZONE OPERATIONS Responding to the escalating threats to maritime security The File
NDCP Executive Policy Brief, 2021
, three Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) ships, using water cannons, blocked two Philippine vessels en route to transport supplies to military personnel stationed in BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal. 2 Although the troops subsequently received the supplies, the episode is part of a series of incidents in the South China Sea (SCS) where China has been employing gray zone coercion tactics to advance its interests in the area. Indeed, in September 2021, Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr ordered the filing of diplomatic protests against the People's Republic of China (PRC) because of, among others, the continued presence of its fishing vessels in the vicinity of Iroquois Reef, and the unlawful restriction of Filipino fishermen from conducting lawful fishing activities in Scarborough shoal. 3 Days after Sec. Locsin issued his guidance, the Malaysian Foreign Ministry announced that it summoned the Chinese ambassador in order to convey related concerns. 4 Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, a Vietnamese fishing vessel was rammed and sunk by the CCG in April 2020. 5 Having experienced a similar incident in 2019, the Philippines expressed support for Viet Nam. 6 The aforementioned recent incidents in the SCS are part of the increasing number of gray zone challenges in the region. While not outright armed hostilities, these gray zone challenges are, in the past couple of years, becoming among the major security concerns in the region. This two-part policy brief aims to examine the strategic context of gray zone challenges, as well as to explore the role that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) can play to manage or address the said challenges. This first part seeks to answer the question: How do gray zone coercion tactics figure in the geopolitical environment of the Indo-Asia-Pacific region? In addition, this paper will also answer the following: 1) What are gray zone challenges? 2) How does China employ gray zone coercion tactics in the maritime domain of Southeast Asia, particularly in the SCS? Guided by the Power Transition Theory (PTT), this Executive Policy Brief (EPB) argues that gray zone coercion tactics are part of China's efforts to alter the status quo in its favor. In order to achieve its strategic objectives while not provoking armed hostilities, Beijing prefers a more incremental approach in challenging the international order. It is in this context that gray zone coercion challenges figure in the regional security environment. Key Points • Coupled with the closing gap between the hegemon and the challenger, instability and uncertainty are-according to the Power Transition Theory (PTT)-heightened when the former fears that the latter will, among others, challenge the rules and leadership of the international order.
Defence and Diplomacy Journal Vol. 7 No. 4, 2018
This paper seeks to analyse the purpose of the maritime militia as a grey zone tactic, its organisational structure within the PLA as well as the operations that have taken place over the past few years.
OSSSM Digest Vol 25, No. 4, 2020
“Gray zone” strategies are situations characterized by competitive interactions between and among state or non-state actors which exist short of a formal state of war. The coercive actions in a “gray zone” vary and fall below key thresholds of conflict that could prompt a conventional military response. These are situations that have the following features – aggressive, perspective-dependent, and ambiguous – and the following elements – revisionism, gradualism and unconventionality. This article was an assessment of the challenges in the South China Sea from these “gray zone” strategies of China and its impact to Philippine national security. This paper attempts to situate “gray zone” strategy and other such operations within China’s overall grand strategy and assess AFP’s readiness to respond to these challenges.
NDCP Executive Policy Brief, 2022
Gray zone coercion challenges are among the security concerns facing the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. Gray zone has been defined as "an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one's security objectives without resort to direct and sizable use of force. In engaging in a gray zone strategy, an actor seeks to avoid crossing a threshold that results in war." 2 There are different forms of gray zone coercion tactics, including: information operations and disinformation, political coercion, economic coercion, cyber operations, space operation, proxy support, and provocation by statecontrolled forces. 3 These tactics are not mutually exclusive. Serving as tools in major power competition, some forms of gray zone maybe combined with each other. Focusing on the maritime domain and using the Power Transition Theory (PTT), the first part of this two-part Executive Policy Brief (EPB) argued that gray zone coercion tactics are part of China's efforts to alter the status quo in its favor. In order to achieve its strategic objectives while not provoking armed hostilities, Beijing prefers a more incremental approach in challenging the international order. It is in this context that gray zone coercion challenges figure in the regional security environment. The second part of this two-part EPB shall explore how ASEAN could play a role in countering maritime gray zone challenges. In addition, this paper seeks to answer the following questions: 1) What are the policy complexities in addressing gray zone challenges?; 2) What are the challenges for ASEAN in managing gray zone coercion challenges?; and 3) How can ASEAN's maritime security-related initiatives help in managing such challenges? This paper argues that given the geopolitical dynamics at play within ASEAN, and its external relations, the organization's role in managing gray zone challenges will be limited.
Griffith Asia Institute, 2021
This policy paper argues the Australian and Japanese governments should take the lead in ensuring a significant and coordinated increase in Quad support for MLE (Maritime Law Enforcement) capacity building and cooperation among the ASEAN states most at threat from China’s maritime claims, in addition to supporting and co-funding the development of better national and cooperative fisheries regulation and research. By collectively supporting the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia to more effectively regulate and police illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and other illegal Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and territorial incursions, the Quad states can indirectly push back on China’s grey zone encroachments while also helping the coastal states to better manage a long-standing threat to the region’s socio-economic security and future prosperity. ISBN: 978-1-922361-26-4 (print) 978-1-922361-25-7 (online)
Lowy: The Interpreter, 2021
Australia’s 2020 Defence Strategic Update was, by the standards of such publications, a hard-hitting document. It had a particularly strong focus on grey zone activities, seen as increasingly troubling the Indo-Pacific and involving “military and non-military forms of assertiveness and coercion aimed at achieving strategic goals without provoking conflict”. Worryingly, the Update declared “grey zone activities directly or indirectly targeting Australian interests are occurring now”.
Journal Of The Royal New Zealand Air Force, 2022
Our final essay gives us an analysis of the much–discussed, and much–misunderstood, grey–zone activities. Written by the distinguished Australian academic/strategist and author Dr. Peter Layton, it traces the origin of such activities back to Sun Tzu who famously advised that ‘ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting.’ The focus is on China and their approach and how the “West” might respond. Layton, though, argues that China’s ongoing grey–zone activities are now generating their own countervailing forces, as they force countries to respond, reorienting their defence–force structures accordingly and, most worryingly for China, beginning to come together to act collectively. The essay concludes with a proposal of what future role the RNZAF might take in this aspect of military and strategic competition.
South Asian Voices, 2020
While there has been much discussion about China’s openly aggressive behavior in the South China Sea (SCS), these potential gray zone actions in the IOR deserve attention and can have long-term strategic implications for IOR littoral states in South and Southeast Asia.
2008
This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law as indicated in a notice appearing later in this work. This electronic representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for non-commercial use only. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of our research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please see RAND Permissions.
report outlines the Department of Defense's strategy with regard to maritime security in the Asia-Pacific region. Recognizing the importance of the Asia-Pacific region and its maritime domain for the security of the United States, the Department is focused on safeguarding freedom of the seas, deterring conflict and coercion, and promoting adherence to international law and standards. As it does around the world, the Department will continue to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, in support of these goals and in order to preserve the peace and security the Asia-Pacific region has enjoyed for the past 70 years.
The double entendre of security conflates the econometric professionalization and geo-economic strategic application of security and trade policy. United States hegemony in geo-economic space is at the intersection of militarism and globalization where spatial security crosses economic security; the extension of capitalism with a global agenda in means and end. However power is “always specific to particular places,” retaining a territorial definition, and the South China Sea is currently where such definitions are being evaluated, awakening old animosities with new ambitions that threaten global stability. This article evaluates the security dilemma in the South China Sea by applying UNCLOS in a re-scaled geo- economic risk management approach. Contemporary risk analysis and mitigation techniques re-orient spatially the analysis of relations along geo-economic lines in the face of global capital flows. Applying geo-economic methodology to security examines the ‘container’ instead of the ‘contained’, contextualizing foreign policy as spatial strategic and tactical options within risk management. This approach re-scales security as an exchangeable item with global implications for conflict avoidance and resolution.
Office of Strategic Studies and Strategy Management Digest, Vol XX, No.2, 2015
United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, 2024
Maritime zones are increasingly vulnerable to conventional and non-conventional threats, including the proliferation of missile and drone technologies, the illicit flow of arms and the challenges of protecting critical maritime infrastructure from an increasingly complex threat landscape. This highlights the pressing need for a stronger integration between maritime governance and the international frameworks aimed at promoting disarmament, arms control and cooperative security. The recently adopted Pact for the Future reflects an urgent commitment to enhancing international cooperation in this domain. In particular, Action 22 of the Pact calls for more coordinated global efforts to secure our oceans through stronger maritime governance, environmental stewardship and measures to prevent the escalation of conflicts at sea. With increasing threats from climate change, geopolitical tensions and technological developments, acting swiftly and decisively is necessary to prevent further destabilization of our maritime environments. Within this context, UNIDIR’s report marks the first comprehensive exploration of contemporary maritime security and provides an essential baseline for understanding these diverse and complex challenges, setting the context for future in-depth studies.
The South China Sea (SCS) is one of the most significant regions of the world. As the main passageway between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Sea carries one-third of global maritime trade. Therefore, many countries, and particularly the countries that have a stake in maritime commerce are concerned about the safety and security of the transit of goods. The change in US approach in 2010 which is known as the 'Asia Pivot' or rebalancing strategy has prompted a renewed focus on the SCS, as the rebalancing arrangement incorporated a military segment also. The US declared the moving of 60 percent of its maritime capability to the Asia Pacific. This aspect has considerably added to the strategic significance of the SCS.
hen considering the term “maritime security”, a traditional approach immediately refers to the naval strategy aspects with regard the protection of national maritime borders and sensitive maritime trade choke-points. Over the past few years, however, due to a gradual emergence of various issues related to or occurring in the maritime domain, the international security studies field has experienced a birth of a new sub-division, focused on the maritime domain, its global importance, and a variety of off-shore based threats that generate an increasing impact factor on the on-shore environment. Researchers from different backgrounds have engaged into adjoined projects with an aim to merge methodologies available in the traditional security studies, contemporary critical security studies, law of the sea studies, maritime law studies and other related fields. This ambitious endeavour has just begun, and aims to form an international, multi-disciplinary forum (political sciences, law, economy, sociology and others) where researchers and practitioners will be given an opportunity to accumulate knowledge and experience, and gather with an aim to define the outreach of this new emerging sub-field – the international maritime security studies.
2013
The security of the maritime domain has become a topical area of concern, with threats thereto manifesting in multiple ways, ranging from military activities at sea to marine litter discharges and noise pollution. As an issue of common interest of the international community, maritime security has ignited some commendable initiatives both internationally and regionally, aimed at setting up new legal and institutional frameworks of cooperation. However, current regimes have proved to be ill-suited to address the globalized maritime challenges of today. By and large, a sustained common vision on how to better serve the common interest is currently lacking, owing in part to an intricate North-South divide over both rights and obligations regarding ocean governance. It is thus still necessary to merge the priorities of the various stakeholders into a comprehensive maritime security architecture. This policy brief purports to illustrate this state of affairs through a brief analysis of m...
2020
The article of record as published may be found at cimsec.org/mapping-gray-maritime-networks-for-hybrid-warfare/4369
The ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+)³ is an important forum dedicated to strengthening security and defense cooperation for peace, stability, and development in the Asia Pacific region. In this sense, the present study guide is intended to bring information about the first topic that shall be discussed in the ADMM+ of the XIV UFRGSMUN. This topic is "Maritime Security in Southeast Asia" and it addresses issues related to regional and international security in the waters of the region of Southeast Asian, namely the South China Sea.
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.