| Summary/Abstract |
The East Asian theatre is emerging as a region where there are frequent military confrontations. The territorial disputes are the pivot of all recent tensions in the region. China, backed by its increasing economic and military might, is turning more assertive in its claims. The dispute might be regional but any military flare up has few changes of being limited to the regional players. This is because of the security architecture in the region, in which the United States in an important external actor. This is a cause of major concern for China, particularly in the event of a possible non-pacific reunification of Taiwan with the Chinese Mainland or a war with Japan over the island dispute. At present, the US is the only power that could challenge the Chinese military supremacy in the region. Back in the 1996 Taiwan Crisis, the US had deployed two of its aircraft carriers as a signal to China of its resolve to maintain the status quo in the region. Ever since, China began to develop an Anti-Access and Area Denial (A2/ AD) strategy with the sole aim of preventing the US military from intervening in any conflict in the region involving China. This paper looks at the Chinese and US military Strategies that are involving in the region. Specific focus in given to the people`s Liberation Army Air Force bomber Aircraft force which has been modified to fire long range Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCMs) to threaten the US military bases around China, and the future measures that the PLA might take to deny access to US forces in the region.
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