Navigating Troubled Waters : The nexus of U.S.-China tensions in China´s near seas

Sammanfattning: China is becoming increasingly capable of denying American naval forces access to and freedom of navigation in its near seas by means of an ‘anti-access/area denial’ (A2/AD) strategy and related capabilities that could force United States Navy (USN) to operate at a greater distance from the theater of operations. The thesis examines the naval interaction between access and denial in relation to wartime naval missions, to explain the magnitude of what is at stake in China´s near seas. Applying a qualitative content analysis method and document-based collection strategy, the thesis finds the nexus of what is at stake in China´s near seas to be rooted in an interactive cycle between American demands for access to maintain an ability to establish sea control and project power in wartime, and a Chinese determination to ensure its security by means of denying such access. An interaction that must be considered by using the insights furnished by enduring strategic principles of naval warfare alongside offensive realist motivations for seeking security in order to understand the accompanying risk for dangerous escalation in waters where tensions stand at an all-time high.