Books

Asia’s maritime ‘gray zone’

Paul French assesses the danger threat in the waters of East Asia

Periods of tension across the Korean peninsula, and the surrounding seas, come and go. Right now it seems we are in a moment of heightened volatility with North Korea firing a series of missiles which have caused some panic in Japan and concern in Seoul, Beijing and Washington DC. As well as the missiles and jets flying close to South Korean and Japanese air space and angry rhetoric from Pyongyang, recently a DPRK-flagged merchant ship crossed the countries’ sea border, causing both sides to fire warning shots. The South Koreans said the merchant ship’s incursion was intentional; the North Koreans said it was a simple accident to which Seoul overreacted.

Whatever the truth the fact is the regional tensions have clearly spilled over from the military arena to commercial shipping. Combined with similar tensions involving China, the USA and regional countries from the South China Seas, the Taiwan Straits, Malacca Straits and across the Pacific perhaps it is good timing to publish Maritime Gray Zone Operations: Challenges and Countermeasures in the Indo-Pacific (Routledge, October 2022). Edited by Andrew S Erickson, Professor of Strategy at the Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute in the United States and a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Government at Harvard University, the book is a fascinating collection of essays addressing the issues raised by Chinese and North Korean maritime ‘gray zone’ activities in the Indo-AsiaPacific region.

The various authors consider the actions of China and North Korea, and the reactions to them, constitute what Erickson terms ‘maritime gray zone’ activity - a state of sea-borne conflict that falls somewhere between peace and war. Other authors have seen such ‘gray zone’ actions as a form of ‘hybrid warfare’, blurring the lines between military, economic and diplomatic arguments. While much has been written on the South China Sea and Taiwan Straits, the Yellow Sea has been comparatively quiet. That is until the recent merchant shipping related gun battles, which the book considers ‘carefully-calibrated provocations’ by the DPRK.

There’s also a useful information in Maritime Gray Zone Operations – background on both Beijing and Pyongyang’s activities in the region as well as a comprehensive and fully updated fleet force structure for China’s Coast Guard. Another article considers how the PRC’s Coast Guard and Maritime Militia are likely to develop in the future, and how Beijing sees the issue of safeguarding Chinese coastal sovereignty - subjects that should be of keen interest to anyone sailing vessels through the South China and Yellow Seas, as well as calling at the strategically important ports of the Bohai Gulf. Additionally, there is also a detailed assessment of North Korean ‘maritime gray zone’ activities and the likelihood of their expansion which could add considerable risk to any merchant shipping sailing close to the northern portion of the Korean peninsula. ●