cabbage tactics

Cabbage tactics were first named by Rear Admiral Zhang Zhaozhong of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). It is a tactic to overwhelm and seize control of an island by surrounding and wrapping the island in successive layers of Chinese naval ships, China Coast Guard ships and fishing boats.{{cite news |last= Santoro|first= David|date=16 September 2019|title=Beijing's South China Sea Aggression Is a Warning to Taiwan|url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/economy/china-invokes-cabbage-tactics-in-south-china-sea/63892| newspaper=Foreign Policy}}{{cite news |last= Pascual Jr|first= Federico D.|date=11 April 2019|title=China's swarming: 'Cabbage strategy'|url=https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2019/04/11/1909011/chinas-swarming-cabbage-strategy| newspaper=Philstar}} It has also been called small-stick diplomacy.{{cite web |last1=Kazianis |first1=Harry |title=China's Expanding Cabbage Strategy |url=https://thediplomat.com/2013/10/chinas-expanding-cabbage-strategy/ |website=thediplomat.com |publisher=The Diplomat |access-date=15 June 2021}}

According to The New York Times Magazine, Zhang Zhaozhong "described a “cabbage strategy,” which entails surrounding a contested area with so many boats — fishermen, fishing administration ships, marine surveillance ships, navy warships — that “the island is thus wrapped layer by layer like a cabbage.”"{{cite news |last1=Himmelman |first1=Jeff |title=A Game of Shark and Minnow |work=The New York Times |date=24 October 2013 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2013/10/27/south-china-sea/index.html |access-date=15 June 2021}}

Ahmet Goncu, an associate professor at China's Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, stated: "Whenever there is a conflicted small island, the Chinese military and paramilitary forces are sent to overwhelm the islands and lay siege to the surrounding islands with military ships, fishing boats along with other kinds of paramilitary vessels." The layers of Chinese vessels block the entry or exit of any other country's navies, thus effectively isolating the island and bringing it under Chinese control.{{cite news |last= Erdogan|first= Huseyin|date=25 March 2015|title=China invokes 'cabbage tactics' in South China Sea|url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/economy/china-invokes-cabbage-tactics-in-south-china-sea/63892| newspaper=Anadolu Agency}} The strategy also involves the People's Armed Forces Maritime Militia, which includes fishermen, serving as a first line of defense.{{Cite book |last1=Andersen |first1=Bobby |url=https://ciao-test.cdrs.columbia.edu/catalog?f%5Bauthor%5D%5B%5D=Charles+Perry&f%5Bcontent_type%5D%5B%5D=Special+Report&f%5Blocation%5D%5B%5D=South+China&f%5Bpub_date%5D%5B%5D=years_10&per_page=10&search_field=all_fields&searched=yes&sort=year |title=Weighing the Consequences of China's Control Over the South China Sea |last2=Perry |first2=Charles |publisher=Institute of Foreign Policy Analysis |year=2017 |isbn= |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=22}} The goal of cabbage tactics is to create a layered envelopment of the target.{{cite web |last1=Chan |first1=Eric |title=Escalating Clarity without Fighting: Countering Gray Zone Warfare against Taiwan (Part 2) |url=https://globaltaiwan.org/2021/06/vol-6-issue-11/ |website=globaltaiwan.org |publisher=The Global Taiwan Institute |access-date=21 June 2021}}

==History==

Examples of Chinese cabbage tactics include the swarming of contested islands in the South China Sea, which also entailed the construction of artificial islands, and the occupation of disputed areas along the Sino-Indian border.{{Cite book |last1=Sharma |first1=Rakesh |url=https://ojs.indrastra.com/index.php/clawsjournal/issue/view/3 |title=CLAWS Journal: Vol. 12 No. 2 (2019): Winter 2019 |last2=Ahluwalia |first2=V. K. |last3=Nagal |first3=Balraj Singh |last4=Kapoor |first4=Rajeev |last5=Chakravorty |first5=P. K. |last6=Jash |first6=Amrita |last7=Semwal |first7=Pradeep |last8=Yadav |first8=Kunendra Singh |last9=Singh |first9=Manjari |publisher=IndraStra Global e-Journal Hosting Services |year=2019 |isbn= |location=New Delhi |pages=87 |language=en}} Cabbage tactics has also been used to intimidate military vessels. For instance, in 2009 the American survey ship Impeccable encountered cabbage tactics from Chinese maritime forces.{{Cite book|last=Roy|first=Nalanda|title=Navigating Uncertainty In The South China Sea Disputes: Interdisciplinary Perspectives|publisher=World Scientific|year=2020|isbn=978-1-78634-927-9|location=Singapore|pages=40}}

In 2013, The New York Times Magazine published a multimedia feature piece exploring the South China Sea that covered the concept of cabbage tactics in depth.

The usage of this tactic has been seen at:

• Scarborough Reef in the South China Sea from Philippines in 2012
• Ayungin Island in the Spratlys also from Philippines in 2013
• Vietnam's claimed EEZ was encroached by installing a CNOOC oil rig{{cite web |last= |first= |date= 29 October 2014|title=A Feast Of Cabbage And Salami: Part I – The Vocabulary Of Asian Maritime Disputes|url=http://cimsec.org/feast-cabbage-salami-part-vocabulary-asian-maritime-disputes/13441|publisher=Centre for International Maritime Security|access-date=29 September 2020}}
• Pagasa Island in the South China Sea in 2019.{{cite news |last= Jakhar|first= Pratik|date=15 April 2019|title=Analysis: What's so fishy about China's 'maritime militia'?|url=https://monitoring.bbc.co.uk/product/c200r2cr| newspaper=BBC}}

• China's salami slicing
• Grey-zone (international relations)
• Hybrid warfare

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Category:Naval warfare tactics

Category:People's Liberation Army Navy

Category:China–Philippines relations

Category:China–Vietnam relations

Category:Metaphors referring to food and drink

Category:Territorial disputes of China