The Dragon’s encirclement of the self-governing Taiwan is drawing from the monstrous, coiling serpents – Anaconda. China is using the ‘Anaconda Strategy’ to tire out Taiwanese defenses.
Anacondas rely on their camouflage and patience, often waiting for hours or days until the unsuspecting prey comes within striking range. When the prey is within its reach, it strikes swiftly. It immediately coils around its prey, constricting it until the prey succumbs to suffocation.
Just like an anaconda slowly constricts its prey, cuts off circulation, and snuffs out life, China is putting a multi-pronged strategy in place to terrorize it, to choke it, until Taiwan surrenders.
According to the Taiwanese assessment, the Chinese forces are “slowly but surely” increasing their presence around the island country. “The PLA is using an ‘anaconda strategy’ to squeeze the island,” says Admiral Tang Hua, Taiwan’s navy commander.
In an interview, Admiral Tang warns that Chinese forces are “slowly but surely” increasing their presence around his country. “They are ready to blockade Taiwan at any time they want,” he says.
Statistics also back his claims. The number of PLA air incursions across the median line, the de facto border in the middle of the Taiwan Strait, has registered an over five-fold increase, from 36 in January to 193 in August. The number of PLA ships operating around Taiwan has steadily risen, too, doubling from 142 in January to 282 in August. These vessels are also coming closer to Taiwan—right along its contiguous zone, 24 nautical miles from its coast. And they are patrolling for a few days at a time, up from a few hours previously, according to Taiwan’s naval commander.
Chinese wargames have improved in depth and sophistication. They have become joint exercises involving all branches of the military, simulating more realistic combat scenarios such as blockade and amphibious assault. For instance, in the Joint Sword-2024A exercise, the China Coast Guard (CCG) practiced joint operations for the first time with the PLA.
In the 2022 exercises, even Chinese aircraft carriers, the Liaoning and the Shandong, were involved—along with a Type 75 amphibious assault ship, at least one Type 55 cruiser, several Type 54 frigates, and others.
As part of the May 2024 exercise, China deployed 111 aircraft and 46 naval vessels to areas around Taiwan. 82 Chinese military aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, with some approaching close to the 24-nautical mile line that Taiwan uses to define its contiguous zone. Platforms such as the J-20 and J-16 fighter jets, Type 052D destroyers, and Dong Feng ballistic missiles were also featured.
Under the Anaconda strategy, “Beijing would likely use cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns followed by a blockade or other measures to strangulate Taiwan, rather than attempting an invasion.” This anaconda strategy was propounded after Chinese plans against Taiwan were thwarted by the arrival of two US aircraft carriers into the Taiwan Strait during the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis.
Hence, experts suggest that China would mount a large-scale cyberattack to create chaos throughout the island to cripple the island country. The island country would be isolated from the world with Chinese cyberattacks hitting its communication note. It would simultaneously strike Taiwan’s economy with a series of critical infrastructure failures.
In the report of Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), researcher Dean Karalekas said that while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has spurred preparation in Taiwan, that preparation might not be useful.
He said that rather than kinetic warfare such as the one in Ukraine, Taiwan was more likely to be cut off from its supplies of energy, food, and other imports.
“Once key routes are blocked, it may fall into an energy shortage crisis, and although Taiwan actively develops green energy such as wind power generation, these facilities can easily become targets of enemy attacks during wartime, making it difficult to provide a stable power supply,” the FDD report said.
“Yes, China has the capability, but if the US, Japan, South Korea, and the rest of the world oppose them, the Chinese will not be able to execute this. The key is for Taiwan to be useful to the world through their semi-conductor industry,” former Indian Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh (retired) told the EurAsian Times.
Suffocating Taiwan
According to a study by Global Taiwan Institute, from May 23-24, 2024, three days after Taiwan’s new president William Lai Ching-te’s inauguration, China’s Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) carried out military drills code-named Joint Sword-2024A involving the army, navy, air force, and rocket force.
The study notes that there has been “an increase in the frequency and scale of military exercises.” The PLA’s military drills have dramatically increased since Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party came to power in 2016.
“Beginning in 2018, China conducted military drills around Taiwan with increasing frequency to exert pressure on Taiwan’s DPP-led government, which China views as being pro-independence. These exercises have served to test the PLA’s joint real combat capabilities in the potential operating areas of a future Taiwan crisis,” the study contended.
The military drills have two key objectives – to psychologically intimidate Taiwan and to demonstrate its capabilities to international powers like the US and Japan, who plan to intervene during a Taiwan crisis. The PLA coincides its wargames with significant political events related to Taiwan, such as visits by foreign dignitaries to Taiwan or statements from Taiwan’s government that Beijing views as provocative—including then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022, or President Lai’s inauguration in May 2024.
As the PLA patrols are getting closer to its borders and with increasing frequency, the Taiwan government has started filtering the information given to the public, lest it adversely impact morale. Since 2020, Taiwan’s defense ministry has published daily updates on air activity around the island, including maps of Chinese warplanes’ locations. In 2022, it added updates on the number of PLA naval vessels operating “around Taiwan.”
However, now the release does not mention what types of ships, where they go, or for how long.
The Chinese wargames are straining the Taiwanese Navy thin. The Chinese Navy has twice as many frigates and ten times as many destroyers. For every Chinese drill, Taiwan deploys 25-50 percent of its combat vessels. A government audit found that more than half of Taiwan’s main warships had fallen behind on regular maintenance.
