[Meanwhile] China’s warfare beyond bounds

China can achieve military objectives through the balloons while claiming them to be for “civilian use.”

YOU SANG-CHULThe author is the head of the China Institute of the JoongAng Ilbo and CEO of China Lab. U.S.-China relations are in the dumps. The two countries sought dialogue after the U.S.-China summit at the end of last year, but the atmosphere froze with the appearance of Chinese reconnaissance balloons.

I want to pose a question here. Why did China fly balloons in the 21st century when there are countless satellites? There are more advantages than we think. First, they are very cheap to make. Second, they cause little damage even if they are shot down. Third, they can serve as ultra-low orbit satellites by staying in one place for a long time.

But the biggest reason is that China can achieve military objectives through the balloons while claiming them to be for “civilian use.” The background is the concept of “unrestricted warfare” — a concept developed by Qiao Liang, a professor at the National Defense University, and Wang Xiangsui, a professor at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, in 1999.

When dealing with a powerful enemy like the United States, China must avoid direct confrontation and use all possible means to create a strategic environment favorable to China.

If the United States proposes a boxing match, China wants to engage in a street fight, kicking, butting and cursing. In 2003, China made it official. It developed the so-called three-warfare strategy — including “public opinion warfare, psychological warfare and legal warfare.”

Under such circumstances, China’s “grey zone strategy” has been drawing attention since 2010. By using the ambiguous grey zone that is neither war nor peace, China wants to attain political, diplomatic and military objectives.

The most notable example is China’s maritime militia, which is often used for the South China Sea conflicts. Fleets of hundreds of ships move in groups and pressure other countries. If another country attacks them, it can be considered “an attack on civilians.” The reconnaissance balloon is another typical case of China’s “grey zone tactic.”

This is why it is hard to believe China’s claim that they are simply “civilian airships for weather observation.” According to recent research by Prof. Pyo Nari at the National Diplomatic Academy, the RAND Corporation categorized China’s grey zone tactics into 77 types, and 30 of them have been or are being applied to Korea. Examples include Beijing’s pressuring of Korea by arbitrarily reducing the number of Chinese tourists to Korea or China’s attempt to bribe Korean academic figures.

We are living in a world where we should look up and check if there’s something floating over our heads.