"Confronting Irregular Warfare in the South China Sea" was released by the U.S. Army professional journal, Military Review. This short article by Dr. Kim Cragin, examines irregular warfare activities of the Chinese maritime militia and Vietnam's response, drawing lessons learned for the U.S. military.
On 5 March 2024, the Philippine government released a video of Chinese maritime militia shooting water cannons at a coast guard vessel near the Spratly Islands. Water crashed through the windshield and injured several sailors on board.1 It was just one of many ongoing confrontations in the South China Sea between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the nations of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, and the Philippines. The hostilities exemplify how state actors aggressively pursue their political objectives and yet remain below the level of armed conflict in modern irregular warfare.
Dr. Kim Cragin is the Director of the Center for Strategic Research (CSR) and a Distinguished Research Fellow for Special Operations and Counterterrorism, Institute for National Strategic Studies.
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