Report: China Slowly Expanding Borders

China is using what strategists call a “gray zone” strategy to gradually expand its borders, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. It is making moves drastic enough to widen its territory but not spark war. One example of this is its 2023 national map, which claimed neighboring territories.

Historically, these moves eventually lead to war.

Himalayas: China is trying to seize miles of contested borderland shared with India and Bhutan. Robert Barnett, a research associate at soas University of London, said China has done this against Bhutan in six stages:

1. Sending herders to disputed land (starting in the 1990s)
2. Sending patrols to remove foreign workers
3. Building shelters and checkpoints
4. Upgrading shelters into official outposts
5. Building roads linking these disputed lands to China
6. Building villages along these roads and populating them.

South China Sea: In violation of international law, China claims nearly the entirety of the South China Sea. It has expanded its power in this critical region over the past decade or so in phases:

1. Transforming reefs into man-made islands
2. Militarizing those islands
3. Using the islands to harbor and refuel Coast Guard ships so they can patrol far from China for extended periods of time

Now China’s ships in the sea far outnumber any competitor’s. It is using this power to bully the Philippines, Vietnam and other nations that lawfully own parts of the maritime territory claimed by China.

Taiwan: Perhaps the riskiest front in China’s gray zone war is Taiwan, a close ally of the United States and the Western world. There, China is increasing its air and maritime incursions.

• In 2021, China entered Taiwan’s airspace 972 times.
• In 2024, China entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,000 times. It also sent dozens of balloons over or around the island, reaching 57 in one month.

China has also conducted military exercises that practice besieging Taiwan.

These exercises could hurt the island’s exports, which account for 70 percent of Taiwan’s gross domestic product. Taiwan imports about 70 percent of its food and has about six months of food stockpiles. About 98 percent of its energy comes from overseas; it reportedly has only six months’ worth of crude oil reserves and under two months’ worth of coal and natural gas reserves.

China could impose lighter quarantines instead of a full-scale blockade or invasion to fit its gray zone strategy and avoid war with the U.S. In this scenario, if Taiwan attacked Chinese units, China would have an excuse to escalate and the U.S. would have an excuse to stay out.

Prophetic perspective: The Bible prophesies China will soon be a leading player in a massive Asian alliance that will kill one third of mankind. Moves like these show how China is rising toward its prophesied superpower status.

Learn more: Read “China Is Steering the World Toward War.”