Cabbage tactics
Cabbage tactics is a militarily swarming and overwhelming tactic used by the People's Liberation Army Navy to seize control of islands. It is done by surrounding and wrapping the island in successive layers of Chinese naval ships, China Coast Guard ships, and fishing boats and cut off the island from outside support.[1]
Definition
Cabbage tactics were first named by Rear Admiral Zhang Zhaozhong of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). It is a tactic to overwhelm and seize control of an island by surrounding and wrapping the island in successive layers of Chinese naval ships, China Coast Guard ships and fishing boats and cut-off the island from outside support.[2][3] It has also been called small-stick diplomacy.[4]
According to The New York Times Magazine, Zhang Zhaozhong "described a “cabbage strategy,” which entails surrounding a contested area with so many boats — fishermen, fishing administration ships, marine surveillance ships, navy warships — that “the island is thus wrapped layer by layer like a cabbage.”"[5]
Ahmet Goncu, an associate professor at China's
History
Examples of Chinese cabbage tactics include the swarming of contested islands in the
In 2013, The New York Times Magazine published a multimedia feature piece exploring the South China Sea that covered the concept of cabbage tactics in depth.[4]
Usage
The usage of this tactic has been seen at:
- Ayungin Island in the Spratlys also from Philippines in 2013[6]
- Vietnam's claimed EEZ was encroached by installing a CNOOC oil rig[11]
- Pagasa Island in the South China Sea in 2019.[12][3]
See also
- China's salami slicing
- Grey-zone (international relations)
- Hybrid warfare
References
- ^ Konishi, Weston S. (2018). "China's Maritime Challenge in the South China Sea: Options for US Responses". Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
- ^ Santoro, David (16 September 2019). "Beijing's South China Sea Aggression Is a Warning to Taiwan". Foreign Policy.
- ^ a b Pascual Jr, Federico D. (11 April 2019). "China's swarming: 'Cabbage strategy'". Philstar.
- ^ a b Kazianis, Harry. "China's Expanding Cabbage Strategy". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
- ^ Himmelman, Jeff (24 October 2013). "A Game of Shark and Minnow". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
- ^ a b c Erdogan, Huseyin (25 March 2015). "China invokes 'cabbage tactics' in South China Sea". Anadolu Agency.
- ^ Andersen, Bobby; Perry, Charles (2017). Weighing the Consequences of China's Control Over the South China Sea. Cambridge, MA: Institute of Foreign Policy Analysis. p. 22.
- ^ Chan, Eric. "Escalating Clarity without Fighting: Countering Gray Zone Warfare against Taiwan (Part 2)". globaltaiwan.org. The Global Taiwan Institute. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- ^ Sharma, Rakesh; Ahluwalia, V. K.; Nagal, Balraj Singh; Kapoor, Rajeev; Chakravorty, P. K.; Jash, Amrita; Semwal, Pradeep; Yadav, Kunendra Singh; Singh, Manjari (2019). CLAWS Journal: Vol. 12 No. 2 (2019): Winter 2019. New Delhi: IndraStra Global e-Journal Hosting Services. p. 87.
- ISBN 978-1-78634-927-9.
- ^ "A Feast Of Cabbage And Salami: Part I – The Vocabulary Of Asian Maritime Disputes". Centre for International Maritime Security. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- ^ Jakhar, Pratik (15 April 2019). "Analysis: What's so fishy about China's 'maritime militia'?". BBC.