Chief of Defense Staff of India talks about grey zone: What exactly is the grey zone warfare?

Anil Chauhan, the Chief of Defense Staff General stated the term "grey zone warfare", and called it the latest in informal warfare.

The Chief of Defense Staff General gave explained through an example of such a situation in the South China Sea. Some conflicting incidents that involved small boats have been reported in the area. Many countries have extended claims over this region.

What exactly is grey zone warfare?

Grey zone warfare actually means an unclear, middle space that lies between peace and direct conflict in international relations.

Atlantic Council, a think tank expressed the quotation of Clementine G Starling. He said that a wide array of activities actually fall into this murky. The activities include influence operations, economic activities, mercenary operations, disinformation campaigns, assassinations, and more.

Experts from Europe and the United States have listed a myriad of Chinese and Russian actions as instances of grey zone warfare. The actions include the presence of the Chinese military in the South China Sea.

China's claims have been challenged by the Philippines, extending about 80 percent of the area. In the last month of the year 2023, it called the presence of more than 135 maritime militia vessels surrounding a disputed reef nothing but illegal.

Moreover, China was also accused of firing water cannons at its boats. However, the Chinese coast guards actually blamed the Philippines for hitting the Chinese boats.

Bongbong Marcos, the president of Phillippine addressed on the platform X, formerly Twitter, the aggressions by the China Coast Guard and the Chinese Maritime Militia. 

The grey zone warfare as a distinct category of action

The grey zone warfare poses different challenges as compared to an open conflict. In the case of grey zone warfare, the conflict is usually indirect and covert.

As said by many, the actions in the case of grey zone warfare could be meant to bait the opponent party into escalation. This could therefore free the Chinese forces to revert in kind. In such a case, the use of force would then become legitimized and would be seen as a kind of self-defense against the actions of the opponent party.

Moreover, engaging in tactics like this could prove to be a robust projection of strength.