America’s kryptonite? Just say China ‘gray zone’

You may have seen the recent headlines like “Philippines and Chinese coast guard ships collide in South China Sea” and “China, Philippines accuse each other of ramming ships in South China Sea.”

Seeing those headlines, you might think what happened was an incident in which both parties – or no one – was at fault. What actually happened was that Chinese ships entered Philippines waters and deliberately attacked a Filipino ship.

Why isn’t the US, a defense treaty ally of the Philippines, responding to this and the many other attacks by China? It’s that magic incantation that paralyzes Americans: “gray zone.”

The US military is still powerful—maybe the world’s strongest military. But the words gray zone seem to cause the entire force, the commander-in-chief and his staff to short-circuit.

What is gray zone?

Gray zone is usually invoked when an adversary does something that harms us, sometimes seriously, but we don’t figure it’s worth going to war over.

It could be Chinese ships and aircraft interfering – brazenly and often dangerously – with US military ships and aircraft going about their business in the South China Sea. Or, as seen repeatedly over the last 18 months, the Chinese ramming and water-cannoning America’s Filipino allies trying to resupply their own ships in their own territory.

Just call this gray zone and the Americans act as if they can’t respond. As if it were a choice among doing nothing, doing nothing much or thermonuclear war. We tell ourselves this is just the Chinese “acting up” rather than what it is: acts of war.

Yes, it’s at the lower end of the conflict spectrum, but the other side doesn’t make such neat distinctions. It’s all war to them – even if there’s no shooting involved. And, if they do