China's "Submarine Wall" Strategy in the South China Sea
📌 China's actions since 2013 were a systematic construction of a "submarine wall," a layered defense system aimed at achieving regional hegemony in the Western Pacific.
🗺️ This strategy moved beyond mere territorial expansion, establishing a multi-layered defensive perimeter to make American power projection prohibitively costly.
💥 The strategy is rooted in the structural dynamics of an anarchic international system where survival is achieved by accumulating power, not adherence to principles.

Components of the Submarine Wall
🏗️ The first layer consists of artificial islands (like Fiery Cross Reef) transformed into military installations with runways, radar, and missile systems, extending radar coverage deep into the South China Sea.
🤫 The second layer involves aggressively expanding the quiet submarine fleet, including Type 039A and Type 093 Shang-class submarines, achieving noise levels comparable to US and Russian subs.
💣 The third component is the Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) strategy, utilizing land-based missiles like the DF-21D and DF-26, dubbed "carrier killers," to threaten ships far beyond traditional coastal defense ranges.

Strategic Implications and Security Dilemma
⚖️ China’s strategy created an asymmetric advantage by focusing on relatively cheap submarines capable of sinking multi-billion dollar aircraft carriers, thus neutralizing the backbone of US power projection.
🔄 This initiated a classic security dilemma: China's defensive buildup made the US feel less secure, prompting US military buildup (e.g., new weapon systems, alliances like AUKUS/Quad), which in turn fueled Chinese acceleration of its own defense perimeter.
🛑 The construction severely eroded the credibility of US security guarantees to allies like Taiwan, as American carriers could not operate safely near the Chinese coast, suggesting the window of US military superiority was closing.

Expansion Beyond Military Means
🚢 Control over the South China Sea, which carries approximately 60% of global maritime trade, provided China with significant economic leverage over regional economies, including Japan and South Korea.
🌐 The military foundation (submarine wall) was complemented by broader strategies, including the Belt and Road Initiative and diplomatic outreach, aiming to create a new regional order centered on China.
🔬 The competition rapidly expanded beyond conventional military domains into technology (e.g., quantum computing research to defeat US sonar) and information warfare (disrupting US command and control).

Key Points & Insights
➡️ China's strategy succeeded in its immediate goal: by 2023, US planners privately acknowledged any conflict in the Taiwan Strait would be "extraordinarily costly and uncertain."
➡️ Rising powers can effectively challenge established hegemonies by leveraging geography and crafting asymmetric capabilities rather than attempting direct parity (e.g., China avoiding carrier-for-carrier competition).
➡️ The era of unchallenged US naval supremacy in the Pacific (since 1945) has concluded, ushering in a new phase defined by strategic rivalry across military, economic, and technological dimensions.
➡️ The success of the submarine wall is prompting other regional powers (like Russia, Iran, North Korea) to adopt similar asymmetric A2/AD tactics against US and allied military reach.

📸 Video summarized with SummaryTube.com on Jan 03, 2026, 03:16 UTC