Published February 10, 2023
China’s Anti-Access/Area-Denial Strategy
Source: shutterstock.com/Ivan Marc
Author: Fabian-Lucas Romero Meraner is a master’s student in International Security at the Institut
d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po Paris). He specializes in East Asian security affairs focusing on
Chinese military modernization, the Chinese anti-access/area-denial system, and Japanese security policy.
The views contained in this article are the author’s alone.
Abstract: Over the past 20 years, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has built an extensive anti-
access/area-denial (A2/AD) system around the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and the Strait of
Taiwan. This system, which includes anti-ship, anti-air, and anti-ballistic weapons, submarines, and other
naval and aerial capabilities, does significantly alter the strategic environment in the Western Pacific, and
shifts the military balance in China’s favour. The system limits the intervention and deterrence capabilities
of the US, its regional allies, and partners. In response, the US has begun shifting its military approach
from power projection to increased forward presence and counterstrike and deterrence capabilities.
Washington could counter the Chinese A2/AD system through the operational concept of Archipelagic
