By WENDELL MINNICK
TAIPEI — A new RAND report suggests the US military consider turning China’s anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) strategy on its head by incorporating a “far blockade” strategy using land-based anti-ship missiles (ASM) at chokepoints in the Asia-Pacific region.
The new report, “Employing Land-Based Anti-Ship Missiles in the Western Pacific,” looks at how the US military, in a joint or coalition effort using an integrated network of land-based ASMs, could shut down China’s naval movements.
With massive Pentagon budget cuts coming, land-based ASMs would be “inexpensive joint force multipliers.” The report provides detailed geospatial depictions of how this strategy could paralyze China’s navy.
The release of the report coincides with Japan’s announcement that it is conducting an exercise that places Type-88 surface-to-ship missiles on Miyako Island. It is the first time Japan has conducted such an exercise. The strait between Okinawa and Miyako is a common access route to the Pacific by the Chinese navy.
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