China\'s Quest. The History of the Foreign Relations of the People\'s Republic of China - John Garver

706 { China’s Quest

proactive strategy which laid out a new maritime defense perimeter run-

ning down the Japanese home islands, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, and the

Philippines, a line dubbed the first island chain and shown in Figure 26-1.

This included the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea

in China’s new maritime defense zone.^2 In the mid-1980s, China’s military

capabilities were far from realizing the apparent intent of Chinese control,

or domination of the waters west of the “first island chain.” By the 2010s,

however, with large numbers of new and modern warships, warplanes,

and antiship cruise and ballistic missiles being deployed, China was much

closer to supremacy in these waters. Beijing saw its expanded maritime

defense zone as self-defense. Tokyo saw the PLA-N’s expanding operations

as putting China in a position to choke off Japan’s imports and exports, and

stepped up Japan’s efforts to counter China and defend Japan’s vital SLOCs.

First Island Chain

Second Island Chain

MONGOLIA

CHINA

JAPAN

TAIWAN

Guam

Okinawa

PHILIPPINES

NORTH

KOREA

SOUTH

KOREA

VIETNAM

PANEPUWA

GUINEA

MALAYSIA

AUS TRALIA

BRUNEI

SINGAPORE

CAMBODIA

THAILAND

LAOS

(^) I N D O N
E S
I
A
RUSSIA
INDIA
SRI
LANKA
NEPALBHUTAN
BANGLADESH
BURMA
PACIFIC
OCEAN
South
China
Sea
Sea of
Japan
CeSelebeas
INDIAN
OCEAN
Bay of
Bengal
Beijing
F IGU R E 26-1 China’s First and Second Island Chain Maritime Defense