China's Maritime Gray Zone Operations, ed. Andrew S. Erickson and Ryan D. Martinson

摘要

In its long history, China has deployed substantial naval power, but only episodically. It never faced sustained naval threats, so the country's maritime frontier was not a perennial strategic concern. But in more modern times, seaborne pressures from the Western powers and Japan became unremitting. Foreign navies even sailed deep into the country's interior, establishing "treaty ports" hundreds of miles from the coast. This ended with the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Still, even though Western naval power was pushed offshore, seaborne forces nearby could attack China with impunity.