An indirect approach to conflict with the People' s Republic of China (PRC) might reduce the immense damage a direct conflict would cause to the United States, its allies and partners, and global trade. What are the potential indirect approaches to countering the PRC threat, and how would the PRC react? How can non-attributable, asymmetric, indirect actions and non-traditional partner operations be integrated into Joint Force campaigning efforts? What activities offer the greatest payoff across the conflict continuum-in competition, crisis, and/or contingency? Historical examples and case studies of such activities, combined with concrete recommendations on how to incorporate them, will be especially useful.
- Bishop, Dalene, "China's Claim to the South China Sea: Legal Legitimacy, Historical Justifications and Geopolitical Implications," AFGC thesis, 2025, 41 pgs.
- Bishop identifies several indirect, non-kinetic approaches used to counter China's expansion, including legal arbitration through international courts, diplomatic mediation through ASEAN, and tactical FONOPs to demonstrate international maritime norms without escalating to open conflict. The PRC reacts to these indirect approaches with a hybrid strategy: it rejects international court rulings, delays binding Code of Conduct (COC) negotiations, and uses "gray zone" tactics—deploying coast guard vessels, fishing fleets, and maritime militias to harass foreign ships and assert de facto control over the waters without triggering a conventional military response.
- Judd, Maj. Colby D., "Asymmetry in the West," AFGC thesis, 2025, 41 pgs.
- Judd argues that the United States cannot hope to succeed in a full-blown conventional war with China due to China's "home-field" advantage and overwhelming firepower. Instead, he asserts the US must embrace an indirect, asymmetric approach. To overcome these challenges, he highlights programs like "Replicator"—which relies on thousands of low-cost, unmanned airborne drones and suicide boats—and the use of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs) to overwhelm Chinese forces asynchronously without risking expensive manned platforms or escalating to immediate total war.
- Schnell, Andrew T., "Building Blocs: Economic Sanctions on the People's Republic of China during the Early Cold War," SAASS thesis, 2025, 90 pgs.
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Schnell provides historical context for this question by analyzing the U.S. use of comprehensive economic sanctions and trade embargoes as an indirect approach to contain the PRC during the early Cold War. He details how the U.S. leveraged its economic influence over European allies to restrict China's access to military and industrial goods, eventually escalating to a total embargo during the Korean War. In reaction, the PRC deepened its reliance on the Soviet Union and the socialist bloc through "fraternal socialism" and barter-system economies to bypass Western financial networks. Schnell demonstrates that while this indirect economic approach successfully isolated the PRC from Western markets, it also forced China to adapt by integrating more deeply into a rival economic bloc, warning modern strategists that indirect economic pressure can unintentionally harden an adversary's resolve and reinforce alternative global alliances.