Skip to main content
  • Sections
  • Search

Center for Strategic & International Studies

User menu

  • Subscribe
  • Sign In

Topics

  • Climate Change
  • Cybersecurity and Technology
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Governance
    • Intellectual Property
    • Intelligence, Surveillance, and Privacy
    • Military Technology
    • Space
    • Technology and Innovation
  • Defense and Security
    • Counterterrorism and Homeland Security
    • Defense Budget
    • Defense Industry, Acquisition, and Innovation
    • Defense Strategy and Capabilities
    • Geopolitics and International Security
    • Long-Term Futures
    • Missile Defense
    • Space
    • Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation
  • Economics
    • Asian Economics
    • Global Economic Governance
    • Trade and International Business
  • Energy and Sustainability
    • Energy, Climate Change, and Environmental Impacts
    • Energy and Geopolitics
    • Energy Innovation
    • Energy Markets, Trends, and Outlooks
  • Global Health
    • Family Planning, Maternal and Child Health, and Immunizations
    • Multilateral Institutions
    • Health and Security
    • Infectious Disease
  • Human Rights
    • Building Sustainable and Inclusive Democracy
    • Business and Human Rights
    • Responding to Egregious Human Rights Abuses
    • Civil Society
    • Transitional Justice
    • Human Security
  • International Development
    • Food and Agriculture
    • Governance and Rule of Law
    • Humanitarian Assistance
    • Human Mobility
    • Private Sector Development
    • U.S. Development Policy

Regions

  • Africa
    • North Africa
    • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Americas
    • Caribbean
    • North America
    • South America
  • Arctic
  • Asia
    • Afghanistan
    • Australia, New Zealand & Pacific
    • China
    • India
    • Japan
    • Korea
    • Pakistan
    • Southeast Asia
  • Europe
    • European Union
    • NATO
    • Post-Soviet Europe
    • Turkey
  • Middle East
    • The Gulf
    • Egypt and the Levant
    • North Africa
  • Russia and Eurasia
    • The South Caucasus
    • Central Asia
    • Post-Soviet Europe
    • Russia

Sections menu

  • Programs
  • Experts
  • Events
  • Analysis
    • Blogs
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Congressional Testimony
    • Critical Questions
    • Interactive Reports
    • Journals
    • Newsletter
    • Reports
    • Transcript
  • Podcasts
  • iDeas Lab
  • Transcripts
  • Web Projects

Main menu

  • About Us
  • Support CSIS
    • Securing Our Future
Photo: GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images
Report
Share
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Printfriendly.com

Chronology of Possible Chinese Gray Area and Hybrid Warfare Operations

By Anthony H. Cordesman with the assistance of Grace Hwang

July 2, 2020

Download the Report

 

 

Anthony H. Cordesman with the assistance of Grace Hwang

This chronology is a working document that explores the range of Chinese competition with the United States, and focuses on China’s “gray area,” hybrid warfare, and multi-domain operations. It is a working document and will be updated over time. It takes a different approach to defining such operations from those used in a number of official sources and other reports, and its coverage is being steadily expanded in a number of areas.

It is also a working document that can only cover a limited number of events. As is discussed later in this chronology, the official and other open source reporting now available has serious limits. Many Chinese low-level operations, territorial and maritime claims, as well as political acts are only reported as serving commercial interests, reflecting local claims or interests, or supporting China’s broader security needs rather than as acts directed towards competition with the United States.

As a result, this chronology is designed to illustrate key patterns in such Chinese activity that competes directly and indirectly with the United States, and it is a starting point for a more comprehensive analysis. It does, however, highlight the need to look beyond the military and war fighting aspects of U.S. and Chinese competition, and the boundaries of some current definitions of “gray area,” hybrid warfare, and multi-domain operations.

It will be revised expanded overtime, and the authors will be grateful for any suggested revisions and additions. Please send these to Anthony H. Cordesman, Burke Chair in Strategy, at acordesman@gmail.com.

The Uncertain Contents of this Chronology

This chronology is a rough working attempt to illustrate the full range and depth of Chinese competitive activities. Many of the entries are uncertain or ambiguous, while many more have almost certainly been omitted or have never been reported. A full analysis would involve a wide range of country experts and military experts. It also would require substantial intelligence analysis at classified levels to be truly comprehensive. 

It still, however, illustrates the broader patterns of Chinese activity in competing with the United States and serves as a starting point for a far more comprehensive analysis. An additional analysis of how U.S. competition with China interacts with U.S. strategic competition with Russia is provided in a separate Burke Chair analysis, entitled U.S. Competition with China and Russia: The Crisis-Driven Need to Change U.S. Strategy. This report is available on the CSIS website here.

This report entitled, Chronology of Possible Chinese Gray Area and Hybrid Warfare Operations, is available for download here.

Anthony H. Cordesman holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He has served as a consultant on Afghanistan to the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of State.

Downloads
Download the Full Report
Written By
Anthony H. Cordesman
Emeritus Chair in Strategy
Grace Hwang
Program Coordinator and Research Assistant, Burke Chair in Strategy and Transnational Threats Project
Media Queries
Contact H. Andrew Schwartz
Chief Communications Officer
Tel: 202.775.3242

Contact Paige Montfort
Media Relations Coordinator, External Relations
Tel: 202.775.3173
Related
Central Asia, Defense Budget and the Cost of War, Defense Strategy and Capabilities, Defense and Security, Emeritus Chair in Strategy, Europe and NATO, Geopolitics and International Security, Lessons of War, Military Balance, Post-Soviet Europe, Russia, Russia and Eurasia, U.S. Strategic and Defense Efforts

Most Recent From Anthony H. Cordesman

Commentary
Ranking the World’s Major Powers: A Graphic Comparison of the United States, Russia, China, and Other Selected Countries
By Anthony H. Cordesman
May 16, 2022
Report
U.S. Strategy: Rebalancing Global Energy between Europe, Russia, and Asia and U.S. Security Policy in the Middle East and the Gulf
By Anthony H. Cordesman
May 12, 2022
Commentary
The Ukraine War and U.S. National Strategy: The Need for a Credible Global Force Posture and Real Plans, Programs, and Budgets
By Anthony H. Cordesman
May 5, 2022
In the News
Many believe Biden isn’t tough enough on Russia says AP-NORC poll
PBS | Nomaan Merchant, Hannah Fingerhut
April 21, 2022
In the News
Many say Biden not tough enough on Russia: AP-NORC poll
Associated Press | Nomaan Merchant, Hannah Fingerhut
April 21, 2022
Report
The Ukraine War: Preparing for the Longer-Term Outcome
By Anthony H. Cordesman, Grace Hwang
April 14, 2022
Commentary
The Other Side of Chinese Sea Power: 'White Area Warfare'
By Anthony H. Cordesman
April 4, 2022
Commentary
The Fiscal Year 2023 Defense Budget Submission: A Strategic Intellectual Vacuum
By Anthony H. Cordesman
March 29, 2022
View all content by this expert
Footer menu
  • Topics
  • Regions
  • Programs
  • Experts
  • Events
  • Analysis
  • Web Projects
  • Podcasts
  • iDeas Lab
  • Transcripts
  • About Us
  • Support Us
Contact CSIS
Email CSIS
Tel: 202.887.0200
Fax: 202.775.3199
Visit CSIS Headquarters
1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Media Queries
Contact H. Andrew Schwartz
Chief Communications Officer
Tel: 202.775.3242

Contact Paige Montfort
Media Relations Coordinator, External Relations
Tel: 202.775.3173

Daily Updates

Sign up to receive The Evening, a daily brief on the news, events, and people shaping the world of international affairs.

Subscribe to CSIS Newsletters

Follow CSIS
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

All content © 2022. All rights reserved.

Legal menu
  • Credits
  • Privacy Policy
  • Reprint Permissions