Victor Cha Urges Strong Action Against China's 'Grey Zone Tactics' in West Sea

China's unauthorized installation of structures in the Korea-China Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ) in the West Sea constitutes "grey zone tactics" that fall between wartime and peacetime, requiring strong countermeasures, a leading U.S. expert on the Korean Peninsula said.

Victor Cha, Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), wrote on the CSIS North Korea-focused site "Beyond Parallel" on Thursday that "the United States should characterize China's actions as grey zone tactics targeting Indo-Pacific partners." Grey zone tactics refer to coercive actions through non-military means that avoid triggering traditional armed conflict.

South Korea and China established the PMZ in 2001 through a bilateral fisheries agreement to address overlapping exclusive economic zones (EEZ) in the West Sea. The agreement prohibits installation of facilities and resource development within the PMZ, permitting only fishing activities.

"China has unilaterally deployed 13 buoys in and around the PMZ since 2018," Cha said. "The installation of 'Shen Lan' No. 1 and No. 2, large deep-sea aquaculture structures, and the deployment of the large structure 'Atlantic Amsterdam' violate the Korea-China fisheries agreement that prohibits permanent installations within the PMZ."

He pointed out that "27 of 135 attempts by South Korean vessels to investigate China's activities since 2020 have been blocked by the Chinese Coast Guard."

"China's actions are similar to the grey zone tactics used when militarizing [islands and reefs] in the South China Sea and East China Sea," Cha assessed.

Cha urged that "South Korea and the United States should consider releasing the coordinates of Chinese structures for public use and analysis" and that "the United States should support South Korea's claims regarding China's unilateral violation of the PMZ agreement."

He also called for "strong measures with necessary deterrence to prevent arbitrary blockage of West Sea shipping lanes by any single country."