China's military seeks to break its West Pacific noose

This so-called chain stretches from the Japanese archipelago to Taiwan, the Philippines and Borneo

China has already gained de facto control over huge swathes of the South China Sea, it daily sends aircraft and warships close to Taiwan, and it contests passages of foreign warships through the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. Yet the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is still dissatisfied, for it feels confined by what is referred to as the First Island Chain.

This so-called chain stretches from the Japanese archipelago to Taiwan, the Philippines and Borneo. If the PLA is to make the most effective use of its brand-new equipment and exercise greater global reach, especially in times of conflict, it must penetrate the First Island Chain. If an enemy site's anti-ship missiles, sea mines, air defenses and submarines narrow straits through which Chinese warships must pass, it becomes extremely perilous for the PLA. Furthermore, China does not have any natural friends along the First Island Chain, especially since the Philippines' brown-nosed Rodrigo Duterte has departed. Controlling the South China Sea and East China Sea matters little if the PLA's enemies can keep it bottled up inside the First Island Chain. This fear of containment also emphasizes the importance of Taiwan to China, since capturing it immediately snaps the First Island Chain in two and gives China instant access to the West Pacific.