Summary
This monograph describes the types of antiaccess measures one particular country—China—might employ in a future conflict with the United States, how these measures might affect U.S. military operations in the event of a conflict between the United States and China, and possible ways the United States can reduce the effects of these measures. For purposes of this discussion, an antiaccess measure is considered to be any action by an opponent that has the effect of slowing the deployment of friendly forces into a theater, preventing them from operating from certain locations within that theater, or causing them to operate from distances farther from the locus of conflict than they would normally prefer. Potential Chinese actions that could affect U.S. access to areas around China were identified through the analysis of Chinese military doctrinal writings. These included books on military doctrine, articles from Chinese military journals, reports from Chinese military newspapers, and recent Western studies of Chinese strategic thinking. The potential effects of Chinese antiaccess measures were assessed by examining the capability of the Chinese military to actually implement these measures and by analyzing how such implementation would affect U.S. military operations. Possible U.S. measures to reduce the effects of these measures were identified by consulting with RAND Corporation and external experts on the associated areas of military operations.
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