Gray Zone Competition:Generalization of Concepts and Complicated Practice
"Gray zone"competition is a very prominent phenomenon in the current international security field and a hot topic in defense research.However,existing research has been generalized,politicized and labeled,seriously hindering the in-depth research.This article systematically analyzes the general background of the popularity of"gray zone"competition and the origin of research and its various concepts,and proposes that the"gray zone"competi-tion,being used as a relatively certain concept,must simultaneously meet the"three grays"standard namely gray goals,gray forms and gray means.Due to changes in the times,institutional evolution,technological development and the inherent ambi-guity of actions and rules in maritime space,current maritime frictions have more distinct characteristics of"gray zone"competition.On this basis,this article takes maritime"gray zone"competition as an example to analyze the four main gray approaches used by countries within and outside East Asia in maritime compe-tition,as well as the differences between them and traditional approaches.They are non-traditional military force,narrative competition,new type of diplomatic alliance and pressure,and abuses of international law and judicial arbitration procedures,being significantly different from traditional military,diplomatic,eco-nomic and legal means.On the basis of depoliticizing and avoiding generalization,the gray zone of peace and war is a concept and a huge and complex research field,it is thus worth for scholars engaged in international security and defense research to further expand the theory.The three gray criteria proposed in this paper is an attempt,hoping to serve as a starting point for future related research.Besides,the risk of"gray zone"competition escalating into armed conflict is real and rising.Therefore,"gray zone"competition still needs a certain bottom line,while relevant rules and norms are needed to avoid chaos and loss of control,requiring the fu-ture research on this field.
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