… Warfare in Asia's Littorals.
"Beijing has always paid close attention to the military activities of other nations, drawing lessons from their successes and failures, and applying the lessons to its own political and military strategies at home. Beijing has also undoubtedly drawn from Russia's recent "successes," and (re)embraced the concept and practice of modern hybrid warfare. In recent years, China has made bold steps to reassert its claims of sovereignty and presence over a strategically vital region. Tactics and strategies such as "salami slicing" and the cabbage strategy, have become the mantra in the South China Sea (SCS), mixing government-supported psychological warfare with violent (covert) operations. China's actions can be increasingly observed in a grey area situated between politics and violence (or war).
The concept of grey zones — those of political, military, and legal actions, patterns, and behavior — is not entirely new for China. For years if not decades, Russia and North Korea, in addition to China, have practiced similar non-linear operations – what can aptly be labeled hybrid warfare. Mao and other guerrilla warfare strategists have long advocated such tactics and strategies, arguing that revolutionary struggles and insurgencies are most effective when conducted with a framework of irregular warfare. Mao famously stated, "[t]he guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea."
In this regard Putin's little green men are not operating much differently than Mao's revolutionary fighters, or Castro's guerilla fighters some six or so decades ago. North Korea's naval actions against South Korea in the past several years, such as the sinking of the ROKS Cheonan also distinctly smacks of hybrid warfare. China's fishermen-turned-state-sanctioned-militia, too, fit perfectly into this hybrid framework: Operating primarily as a civil fishing fleet, but with military training, and conducting (para)military operations. They easily disappear into civilian shade at will, becoming Mao's fish in the sea…"
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paints up some Israeli mortar vehicles.