The Tao of A2/AD: China's Rationale for the Creation of Anti-Access

China's mighty military is making headlines all over the world, but know this: Beijing can't beat Washington on the battlefield-at least not in a fair fight. Beijing has concluded the best strategic approach to defending China's "core interests"-preserving Beijing's state system, national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity, along with promoting the continued stable development of China's economy and society is an approach Chinese planners have termed "counter intervention operations" or what Western military experts have dubbed Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD). In broad terms, such a strategy's goal is to impede enemy forces from gaining access to a military theater of operations through the utilization of what some consider a classic layered defense approach. Through the development and deployment of advanced sea mines, ultra-quiet submarines, and increasingly advanced cruise and ballistic missiles, Beijing would force U.S. military planners to make an awful choice: suffer unthinkable casualties or abandon allies' in future military conflicts. Why did China choose such a strategy? What is America doing to counteract it?

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Harry J. Kazianis is a national security expert based in Washington D.C. He serves as Fellow for National Security Affairs at the Potomac Foundation. Kazianis is the former Executive Editor of The National Interest and former Editor and Chief of The Diplomat. He holds an ALM focusing on International Relations from Harvard University.