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84-650: The maritime militia takes part in anti-access and area denial missions in areas of the Pacific Ocean claimed by China. By using law enforcement and "civilian" fishing vessels, the PRC is able to use " greyzone " tactics, avoiding a military conflict while still pursuing and enforcing its maritime claims. The US Military refers to the Maritime Militia as the People's Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM). For reportedly operating in

168-443: A Chinese megalopolis , is a core for high technology , manufacturing and foreign trade . In this zone are two of the four top Chinese cities and the top two Chinese prefecture-level cities by GDP : Guangzhou and Shenzhen , the first special economic zone in the country. These two are among China's most populous and important cities, and have become two of the world's most populous megacities and leading financial centres in

252-492: A 2015 white paper. The concept of the grey-zone is built on existing military strategies; however, information technology has created radical new spaces which have expanded what is possible. Modern hybrid warfare and political warfare operations primarily occur in the grey-zone. In the late 2010s, China escalated to grey-zone warfare with Taiwan in an attempt to force unification with the smaller country. Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration has had to expand rapidly to meet

336-672: A distinctive dialect related to Cantonese called Taishanese (or Toishanese). During the 1850s, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom , whose leader Hong Xiuquan was born in Guangdong and received a pamphlet from a Protestant Christian missionary in Guangdong, was allied with a local Guangdong Red Turban Rebellion (1854–1856) . Because of direct contact with the West, Guangdong was the centre of anti-Manchu and anti-imperialist activity. The generally acknowledged founder of modern China, Sun Yat-sen ,

420-613: A diversified economy, and was known as the starting point of ancient China's Maritime Silk Road . It is home to the production facilities and offices of a wide-ranging set of Chinese and foreign corporations. Guangdong has benefited from its proximity to the financial hub of Hong Kong , which it borders to the south. Guangdong also hosts the largest import and export fair in China, the Canton Fair , in Guangzhou. The Pearl River Delta Economic Zone ,

504-581: A form of Chinese opera popular in Cantonese speaking areas. Related Yue dialects are spoken in most of the western half of the province. The area comprising the cities of Chaozhou , Shantou and Jieyang in coastal east Guangdong, known as Chaoshan , forms its own cultural sphere. The Teochew people here, along with Hailufeng Min people in Shanwei , speak Hokkien , which is a Min dialect closely related to mainstream Southern Min (Hokkien) and their cuisine

588-601: A hundred militia vessels operated in the South China Sea on a daily basis. The number of vessels peaked in July 2022, when around 400 militia vessels were deployed in the South China Sea. The movement and the observed behavior of the militia vessels remained consistent over the years. China's fishing militia consists of a mixture of purpose-built maritime militia fishing vessels (MMFV) as well as normal fishing boats, called Spratly Backbone Fishing Vessels (SBFVs), which get recruited by

672-507: A maritime militia during their time in power, but the communist government preferred to craft theirs anew given their suspicion of organizations created by the nationalists. The CCP also instituted a national-level maritime militia command to unite the local militias, something the KMT had never done. In the early 1950s, the Bureau of Aquatic Products played a key role in institutionalizing and strengthening

756-518: A merchant vessel's captain murdered a corrupt governor who had used his position to steal from the merchant. Together with Guangxi , Guangdong was made part of Lingnan Circuit (political division Circuit), or Mountain-South Circuit, in 627 during the Tang dynasty . The Guangdong part of Lingnan Circuit was renamed Guangnan East Circuit ( 廣南東路 ) in 971 during the Song dynasty (960–1279). "Guangnan East" ( 廣南東 )

840-519: A wider sense, for the phylogenetically related residents and Chinese dialects outside the provincial capital. The Neolithic era began in the Pearl River Delta ( 珠江三角洲 ) 7,000 years before present (BP), with the early period from around 7000 to 5000 BP (c. 5050–3050 BC), and the late period from about 5000 to 3500 BP (c. 3050–1550 BC). In coastal Guangdong, the Neolithic was likely introduced from

924-574: Is Guangzhou . With a population of 126.84   million (as of 2021) across a total area of about 179,800 km (69,400 sq mi), Guangdong is China's most populous province and its 15th-largest by area, as well as the third-most populous country subdivision in the world . Guangdong's economy is the largest of any provincial-level division in China, with a GDP of 13.57 trillion RMB ($ 1.9 trillion in GDP nominal) in 2023, contributing approximately 10.6% of mainland China's economic output. It has

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1008-583: Is also one of the leading provinces in research and education in China. It hosts 160 institutions of higher education , ranking first in the South Central China region and second among all Chinese provinces/municipalities, after Jiangsu . As of 2023, two major cities in the province ranked in the world's top 20 cities (Guangzhou 8th and Shenzhen 19th) by scientific research output. " Guǎng " ( traditional Chinese : 廣 ; simplified Chinese : 广 ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with

1092-477: Is geographically separated from the north by a few mountain ranges collectively called the Nan Mountains (Nan Ling). The highest peak in the province is Shikengkong with an elevation of 6,240 feet (1,900 meters) above sea level. Guangdong borders Fujian to the northeast, Jiangxi and Hunan to the north, Guangxi autonomous region to the west, and Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions to

1176-695: Is governed by a one-party system like the rest of China. The Governor is in charge of provincial affairs; however, the Communist Party Secretary, often from outside of Guangdong, keeps the Governor in check. According to Freedom House 's China Dissent Monitor, Guangdong accounted for 17% of dissent events in the first quarter of 2024 – over 100 events despite heavy Censorship in China . In 2024, Freedom House rated China as below zero on political rights (−2 out of 40). Hong Kong and Macau , while historically parts of Guangdong before becoming colonies of

1260-563: Is larger than all, except California. By PPP terms, as of 2022, Guangdong's economy ranked between Turkey and Italy with a GDP of $ 3.35 trillion and US$ 3.06 trillion respectively, the 11th and 12th largest in the world respectively. After the communist revolution and until the start of the Deng Xiaoping reforms in 1978, Guangdong was an economic backwater, although a large underground, service-based economy has always existed. Economic development policies encouraged industrial development in

1344-696: Is now one of the richest in the nation, with the most billionaires in mainland China, the highest GDP among all the provinces, although wage growth has only recently begun to rise due to a large influx of migrant workers from neighboring provinces. By 2015, the local government of Guangdong hopes that the service industry will account for more than 50 percent of the provinces GDP and high-tech manufacturing another 20 percent. In 2021, Guangdong's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries were worth 534 billion RMB (US$ 79.4 billion), 5.28 trillion RMB (US$ 785.6 billion), and 7.09 trillion RMB (US$ 1.05 trillion), respectively. Guangdong contributes approximately 10.6% of

1428-419: Is now the province with the highest gross domestic product in China. In 1952, a small section of Guangdong's coastline ( Qinzhou , Lianzhou (now Hepu County ), Fangchenggang and Beihai ) was given to Guangxi, giving it access to the sea. This was reversed in 1955, and then restored in 1965. Hainan Island was originally part of Guangdong, but it was separated into its own province in 1988. Guangdong faces

1512-400: Is populated predominantly by Yue Chinese speakers, though the influx in the last three decades of millions of Mandarin -speaking immigrants has slightly diminished Cantonese linguistic dominance. This region is associated with Cantonese cuisine . Dim Sum is one famous example of Cantonese cuisine, dividing Cantonese food into small portions and served with small dishes. Cantonese opera is

1596-506: Is the source of the name "Guangdong" ( 廣東 ; 广东 ). As time passed, the demographics of what is now Guangdong gradually shifted to ( Han ) Chinese dominance as the populations intermingled due to commerce along the great canals. From the fall of the Han dynasty onwards, it shifted more abruptly through massive migration from the north during periods of political turmoil and nomadic incursions. For example, internal strife in northern China following

1680-529: The Asia-Pacific region. Guangdong surpassed Henan and Shandong to become China's most populous province in January 2005, registering 79.1 million permanent residents and 31 million migrants who lived in the province for at least six months of the year; the total population was 126,012,510 in the 2020 Chinese census , accounting for 8.93 percent of mainland China 's population. This makes it

1764-574: The Cantonese , Hakka , Teochew dialects have proportionately more speakers among overseas Chinese people than Mandarin-speaking Chinese. Additionally, many Taishanese-speaking Chinese emigrated to Western countries, with the results that many Western versions of Chinese words were derived from the Cantonese dialects rather than through the mainstream Mandarin language, such as " dim sum ". Some Mandarin Chinese words originally of foreign origin also came from

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1848-634: The Nationalist government 's final footholds in Mainland China , with Guangzhou temporarily serving as the Kuomintang 's provisional capitol. The People's Liberation Army seized control of the province after the retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan . The new Chinese Communist Party administration issued harsh taxes, requisitioning between 22 and 60 percent of grain annually. However,

1932-611: The Qin dynasty , immigrants from the Central Plains moved in and formed a local culture with a unique style. With the outward movement of the Guangdong people , the Hakka and Cantonese languages , music , cuisine , opera and tea ceremony have spread throughout the nation, Southeast Asia , and other countries. Guangdong was also the birthplace of the father of modern China and the founder of

2016-630: The Qin dynasty . Under the Qin Dynasty, Chinese administration began and along with it reliable historical records in the region. After establishing the first unified Chinese empire , the Qin expanded southwards and set up Nanhai Commandery at Panyu , near what is now part of Guangzhou. The region was an independent kingdom as Nanyue between the fall of Qin and the reign of Emperor Wu of Han . The Han dynasty administered Guangdong, Guangxi, and northern Vietnam as Jiaozhi Province ; southernmost Jiaozhi Province

2100-531: The South China Sea to the south and has a total of 4,300 km (2,700 mi) of coastline. The Leizhou Peninsula is on the southwestern end of the province. There are a few inactive volcanoes on Leizhou Peninsula. The Pearl River Delta is the convergent point of three upstream rivers: the East River , North River , and West River . The river delta is filled with hundreds of small islands. The province

2184-596: The South China Sea without clear identification, they are sometimes referred to as the "little blue men", a term coined by Andrew S. Erickson of the Naval War College , in reference to Russia's " little green men " during its 2014 annexation of Crimea . China's maritime militia was established after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) won the Chinese Civil War and forced the Kuomintang (KMT) to flee

2268-579: The Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea , particularly the Portuguese and British, traded extensively through Guangzhou. Macau , on the southern coast of Guangdong, was the first European settlement in 1557. In the 19th century, the opium traded through Guangzhou triggered the First Opium War , opening an era of Western imperialists' incursion and intervention in China. In addition to Macau , which

2352-659: The Teochew people in Chaoshan and the Hakka people in Huizhou , Meizhou , Heyuan , Shaoguan and Zhanjiang . Shaozhou Tuhua is spoken in Shaoguan and Leizhou Min is spoken in the Leizhou Peninsula. There is a small Yao population in the north. Other smaller minority groups include She , Miao , Li , and Zhuang . Guangdong has a highly unbalanced gender ratio that is among

2436-551: The "floating population", is due to Guangdong's booming economy and high demand for labor. If Guangdong were an independent nation, it would rank among the twelfth largest countries of the world by population . In 2021, Guangdong's population is 74.6% urban and 25.4% rural. Guangdong is the ancestral home of large numbers of overseas Chinese . Most of the railroad laborers in Canada , the Western United States and Panama in

2520-593: The 19th century came from Guangdong, especially the Siyi area. Many people from the region also traveled to California and other parts of the United States during the gold rush of 1849 , and also to Australia during its gold rush a decade or so later. The majority of the province's population is Han Chinese . Within the Han Chinese, the largest subgroup in Guangdong are the Cantonese people . Two other major groups are

2604-452: The Maritime Militia and coast guard are deployed more regularly than the PLAN in maritime sovereignty-assertion operations. Various academic journals and media articles claim that the maritime militia increasingly takes part in anti-access and area denial missions in a continuously growing area of the western Pacific. By using law enforcement and fishing vessels, instead of traditional naval assets,

Maritime Militia - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-501: The PLAN and the CCG, it is trained by both. The maritime militia operates from mainly ten ports within the Guangdong and Hainan Provinces of China. The Maritime Militia has utilized both rented fishing vessels and purpose-built ships in its operations. Although the maritime militia is part of the armed forces of the PRC, in 2018 it was usually unarmed. The violence used by the militia is mostly limited to dangerous maneuvers and, on occasion,

2772-403: The PRC is able to stay with its actions in a greyzone area, avoiding a military conflict while still being able to successfully pursue its maritime claims. The use of the maritime militia, which consists of civilians, allows the PRC to benefit from the legal ambiguity and the diplomatic arbitrariness coming from the involvement of civilians in such maritime operations. According to research from

2856-600: The PRC. While the first two tasks target mostly neighboring countries, such as Brunei , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , the Philippines , Taiwan , and Vietnam and their conflicting interests in the South China and East China Sea , the third task is primarily a response to the Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) by the US. According to a Congressional Research Service report,

2940-467: The PRCs jurisdictional waters are polluted, and a depletion of China's fishery resources can be noticed. Therefore, while the maritime militia is involved in greyzone operations, it is misleading to portray it as a professional coherent body, which can be systematically used by the central government. Grey-zone (international relations) The grey-zone (also grey zone, gray zone, and gray-zone) describes

3024-587: The Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen . He declared a military government there in the Warlord Era . The two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau fall within the scope of Guangdong's cultural influence, and its culture still has profound influences on the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia , with the vast majority of the Chinese diaspora in the two countries claiming ancestry from Guangdong. Guangdong

3108-751: The South Vietnamese forces. The maritime militia was significant in asserting territorial claims during 1974 swarming operations at the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea . In the 2000s, the involvement of the maritime militia in more aggressive operations, namely, the physical interference with the navigation of Navy ships by the US, increased. China's fishing fleet was being downsized until 2008, when maritime militia funding lead instead to an expansion. This expansion has led to an increase in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing . In 2019,

3192-611: The Southern Song court by Mongol naval forces in The Battle of Yamen 1279 in Guangdong marked the end of the Southern Song dynasty (960–1279). During the Mongol Yuan dynasty , large parts of current Guangdong belonged to Jiangxi . Its present name, "Guangdong Province" was given in early Ming dynasty . Since the 16th century, Guangdong has had extensive trade links with the rest of the world. European merchants coming northwards via

3276-565: The Taiwanese Institute for National Defense and Security Research , China's maritime militia is part of their " grey zone " tactics, which are used to wage conflict against China's neighbors without crossing the threshold into conventional war. The maritime militia is a particularly useful gray zone force because Chinese authorities can deny or claim affiliation with its members depending on context. China can send its militia to harass foreign vessels in contested areas, but publicly assert that

3360-600: The Two Guangs were formally separated as Guǎngnán Dōnglù ( 廣南東路 ; 广南东路 ; 'East Circuit in Southern Guang';) and Guǎngnán Xīlù ( 廣南西路 ; 广南西路 ; 'West Circuit in Southern Guang'), which became abbreviated as Guǎngdōng Lù ( 廣東路 ; 广东路 ) and Guǎngxī Lù ( 廣西路 ; 广西路 ). "Canton", though etymologically derived from Cantão (the Portuguese transliteration of "Guangdong"), usually by itself refers to

3444-583: The United Kingdom and Portugal, respectively, are special administrative regions (SARs). Furthermore, the Basic Laws of both SARs explicitly forbid provincial governments from intervening in local politics. As a result, many issues with Hong Kong and Macau, such as border policy and water rights, have been settled by negotiations between the SARs' governments and the Guangdong provincial government . Guangdong and

Maritime Militia - Misplaced Pages Continue

3528-457: The United States issued a warning to China over aggressive and unsafe action by their Coast Guard and maritime militia. The maritime militia is believed to be behind a number of incidents in the South China Sea where high powered lasers were pointed at the cockpits of aircraft. This includes an attack against a Royal Australian Navy helicopter. In 2022, satellite images showed that more than

3612-887: The academic discourse, are the harassment of the USNS Impeccable in 2009, the Senkaku Island incident in 2010, the Scarborough Shoal standoff in 2012, the Hai Yang Shi You 981 standoff in 2014, the Natuna Islands incident in 2016 and the Whitsun Reef incident in 2021. The Maritime Militia is required to operate in certain areas and support the military. The militia is funded through various government subsidies, and some personnel receive full-time salaries from state-owned companies. Command and coordination arrangements of

3696-404: The central government via various subsidy programs. Most of the boats are between 45 and 65 meters long. A vast majority of the fleet is owned by natural persons, and not the government itself. This means, a large part of the armed mass organization is made up of civilians, who still maintain regular jobs in the marine economy, while being part of the militia. Although the militia is independent from

3780-425: The early 1990s and has since spread to neighboring provinces, and also pulled their populations inward. The economic growth of Guangdong province owes much to the low-value-added manufacturing which characterized (and in many ways still defines) the province's economy following Deng Xiaoping 's reforms. Guangdong is not only China's largest exporter of goods, it is the country's largest importer as well. The province

3864-466: The greater Guangzhou area are served by several Radio Guangdong stations, Guangdong Television , Southern Television Guangdong , Shenzhen Television , and Guangzhou Television . There is an English programme produced by Radio Guangdong which broadcasts information about this region to the entire world through the WRN Broadcast . The central region, which is also the political and economic center,

3948-487: The grey-zone as "the contested arena somewhere between routine statecraft and open warfare." British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace called the grey-zone "that limbo land between peace and war." Grey zone warfare generally means a middle, unclear space that exists between direct conflict and peace in international relations. According to Vincent Cable , examples of grey-zone activities include undermining industrial value chains or oil and gas supplies, money laundering, and

4032-443: The grey-zone. However many of the unconventional tools used by states in the grey-zone such as propaganda campaigns, economic pressure and the use of non-state entities do not cross over the threshold into formalized state-level aggression. Guangdong Guangdong , previously romanized as Kwangtung or Canton , is a coastal province in South China , on the north shore of the South China Sea . The provincial capital

4116-511: The highest of all provinces in China. According to a 2009 study published in The British Medical Journal , in the 1–4 age group, there are over 130 boys for every 100 girls. Religion in Guangdong (2012) According to a 2012 survey only around 7% of the population of Guangdong belongs to organised religions, the largest groups being Buddhists with 6.2%, followed by Protestants with 1.8% and Catholics with 1.2%. Around 90% of

4200-492: The humidity makes it feel hotter in summer. Frost is rare on the coast but may happen a few days each winter. In 2022, Guangdong's GDP was 13.57 trillion RMB ($ 1.9 trillion in GDP nominal, $ 3.78 trillion in PPP ), with a per capita GDP of CN¥102,465 ( US$ 15,234 in nominal or US$ 25,016 in PPP ). It is the richest province in South Central China region and the seventh richest among all provinces by GDP per capita. Guangdong has been

4284-402: The interior provinces which were weakly joined to Guangdong via transportation links . The government policy of economic autarky made Guangdong's access to the ocean irrelevant. Deng Xiaoping's open door policy radically changed the economy of the province as it was able to take advantage of its access to the ocean, proximity to Hong Kong, and historical links to overseas Chinese . Guangdong

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4368-609: The largest province by GDP since 1989 in Mainland China . Its GDP exceeded that of Australia ($ 1.70 trillion) and South Korea ($ 1.67 trillion), the world's 12th and 13th largest economy , respectively. If it was a country, Guangdong would be the 12th-largest economy as of 2022 and the 11th most populous . Compared to country subdivisions in dollar terms, Guangdong's GDP in nominal is larger than all but four country subdivisions : California , Texas , New York State , and England . Compared to country subdivisions in PPP terms, Guangdong's GDP

4452-478: The later 1970s, the maritime militia had evolved an important sovereignty support function which brought it into increasing conflict with China's neighbors, especially in the South China Sea. The maritime militia contributed significantly to the 1974 Battle of the Paracel Islands against South Vietnam especially in providing amphibious lift capacity to Chinese forces. Militia presence also significantly slowed

4536-426: The local party boss Fang Fang tried to moderate Chinese land reform policy in order to protect successful businesses in the Pearl River Delta , landholdings by overseas Chinese seeking to eventually return to the country, and commercial relations with British Hong Kong . In response Mao Zedong purged Fang and thousands of cadres from the province in 1952, sending Tao Zhu to implement a much harsher program under

4620-404: The mainland to Taiwan. The newly consolidated communist government needed to augment their maritime defenses against the nationalist forces, which had retreated offshore and remained entrenched on a number of coastal islands. Therefore, the concept of people's war was applied to the sea with fishermen and other nautical laborers being drafted into a maritime militia. The nationalists had maintained

4704-581: The maritime militia are unclear and only a weak exertion of control on fishermen can be noticed. Since most members of the maritime militia are simultaneously fishermen, they regularly pursue their own agendas, sometimes contradictory to what the government wants. For instance, multiple fishermen went against the central government by using maritime militia policy to fish for protected and endangered species in disputed waters. Moreover, factors such as food security and economic advantages influence fishermen to operate outside of China's exclusive economic zone , since

4788-468: The maritime militia as it collectivized local fisheries. Bureau of Aquatic Products leaders were also generally former high-ranking PLAN officers which lead to close relations between the organizations. The formation of the maritime militia was influenced by the Soviet "Young School" of military theory, which emphasized coastal defense over naval power projection for nascent communist powers. The maritime militia

4872-429: The maritime militia who operate vessels fitted out for militia work instead of fishing; these vessels feature reinforced bows for ramming and high-powered water cannons. The increasing sophistication of militia vessels' communication equipment is a double-edged sword for Chinese authorities. New equipment, as well as training in its use, has substantially improved command, control, and coordination of militia units. However,

4956-528: The middle Yangtze River area (Jiao 2013). In inland Guangdong, the neolithic appeared in Guangdong 4,600 years before present (BP). The Neolithic in northern inland Guangdong is represented by the Shixia culture ( 石峽文化 ), which occurred from 4600 to 4200 BP (c. 2650–2250 BC). Originally inhabited by a mixture of tribal groups known to the Chinese as the Baiyue ("Hundred Yue"), the region first became part of China during

5040-482: The most populous first-level administrative subdivision of any country outside South Asia . The vast majority of the historical Guangdong Province is administered by the People's Republic of China (PRC). Pratas Island in the South China Sea is part of Cijin District , Kaohsiung , Taiwan (ROC); the island was part of Guangdong Province before the Chinese Civil War . After the unification of Lingnan region during

5124-532: The original foreign language by way of Cantonese. For example, the Mandarin word níngméng ( simplified Chinese : 柠檬 ; traditional Chinese : 檸檬 ), meaning "Lemon", came from Cantonese, in which the characters are pronounced as lìng mung . In the United States, there is a large number of Chinese who are descendants of immigrants from the county-level city of Taishan (Toisan in Cantonese), who speak

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5208-478: The population is either irreligious or may be involved in Chinese folk religion worshipping nature gods, ancestral deities , popular sects , Taoist traditions , Buddhist religious traditions & Confucian religious traditions . According to a survey conducted in 2007, 43.71% of the population believes and is involved in ancestor veneration , the traditional Chinese religion of the lineages organised into lineage churches and ancestral shrines . Guangdong

5292-415: The province include Chaozhou , Chenghai , Nanhai , Shantou , Shaoguan , Zhanjiang , Zhaoqing , Yangjiang , and Yunfu . Guangdong has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen Cfa inland, Cwa along the coast). Winters are short, mild, and relatively dry, while summers are long, hot, and very wet. Average daily highs in Guangzhou in January and July are 18 and 33 °C (64 and 91 °F), although

5376-458: The provincial capital Guangzhou . Historically, Canton was also used for the province itself, but often either specified as a province (e.g. Canton Province), or written as Kwangtung in the Wade–Giles system and now most commonly as Guangdong in Pinyin . The local people of the city of Guangzhou (Canton) and their language are called Cantonese in English. Because of the prestige of Canton and its accent, Cantonese can also be used, in

5460-399: The pursuit of its maritime interests in disputed waters. The maritime militia carries out three different tasks in China's dispute strategy, also referred to as maritime rights protection: It is active in disputes over the territorial features as well as disputes over the extent of zones of jurisdictions, and it regulates foreign activities - especially military activities - in waters claimed by

5544-477: The ramming or shouldering of other vessels. Professional militia vessels can be equipped with large water cannons. Most vessels are issued with navigation and communication equipment while some are also issued small arms. Some Maritime Militia units are equipped with naval mines and anti-aircraft weapons . The communications systems can be used both for communication and espionage. Often, fishermen supply their own vessels. However, there are also core contingents of

5628-425: The rebellion of An Lushan resulted in a 75% increase in the population of Guangzhou prefecture between the 740s–750s and 800s–810s. As more migrants arrived, the local population was gradually assimilated to Han Chinese culture or displaced. As Mongols from the north engaged in their conquest of China in the 13th century, the Southern Song court fled southwards from its capital in Hangzhou . The defeat of

5712-404: The region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name " Guang " ultimately came from Guangxin ( 廣信 ; 广信 ), an outpost established in Han dynasty near modern Wuzhou , whose name is a reference to an order by Emperor Wu of Han to "widely bestow favors and sow trust". Together, Guangdong and Guangxi are called Loeng gwong ( 兩廣 ; 两广 ; liǎng guǎng ) During the Song dynasty,

5796-501: The rising grey-zone challenge. China's grey-zone operations against Taiwan in the maritime domain are meant to establish presence while maintaining plausible deniability . It is generally believed that non-democratic states can operate more effectively in the grey-zone as they are much less limited by domestic law and regulation. It can also be very hard for democratic states to respond to grey-zone threats because their legal and military systems are geared towards seeing conflicts through

5880-441: The sense of war and peace with little preparation or consideration for anything in between. This can lead democratic states to either dramatically overreact or under-react when faced with a grey-zone challenge. The concept of grey-zone conflicts or warfare is distinct from the concept of hybrid warfare , although the two are intimately linked as in the modern era states most often apply unconventional tools and hybrid techniques in

5964-451: The slogan "Every Village Bleeds, Every Household Fights." During Reform and Opening Up , Guangdong was supported by the central government to be "one step ahead" of the rest of the country. Most major cities in Guangdong underwent liberalizing economic reforms in the mid-1980s. Since Reform and Opening Up, the province has seen extremely rapid economic growth, aided in part by its close trading links with Hong Kong , which borders it. It

6048-548: The south. Hainan is offshore across from the Leizhou Peninsula . Pratas Island , which were traditionally governed as part of Guangdong, are part of Cijin District , Kaoshiung , Taiwan (ROC). The PRC continues to claim Pratas Island as part of Guangdong under the district of Chengqu, Shanwei . Cities around the Pearl River Delta include Dongguan , Foshan , Guangzhou , Huizhou , Jiangmen , Shenzhen , Shunde , Taishan , Zhongshan , and Zhuhai . Other cities in

6132-488: The space in between peace and war in which state and non-state actors engage in competition. Use of the term grey-zone is widespread in national security circles, but there is no universal agreement on the definition of grey-zone , or even whether it is a useful term, with views about the term ranging from "faddish" or "vague", to "useful" or "brilliant". The grey-zone is defined as "competitive interactions among and within state and non-state actors that fall between

6216-437: The thriving town each erecting their own houses of worship. A foreign quarter sprang up along the river where many traders of diverse backgrounds including Arabs and Singhalese took up residence. The port's importance declined after it was raided by Arabs and Persians in 758 and the foreign residents were at times troubled by the corrupt local officials, sometimes responding violently. During one incident in 684, for example,

6300-598: The total national economic output. Now, it has three of the six Special Economic Zones : Shenzhen , Shantou and Zhuhai . The affluence of Guangdong, however, remains very concentrated near the Pearl River Delta . Guangdong officially became the most populous province in 2005. Official statistics had traditionally placed Guangdong as the fourth-most populous province of China with about 80 million people though an influx of migrants, temporary workers, and newly settled individuals numbered around 30 million. The massive influx of migrants from other provinces, dubbed

6384-616: The traditional war and peace duality." by the United States Special Operations Command . A key element of operations within the grey-zone is that they remain below the threshold of an attack which could have a legitimate conventional military response ( jus ad bellum ). One paper defined it as "coercive statecraft actions short of war", and a "mainly non-military domain of human activity in which states use national resources to deliberately coerce other states". The Center for Strategic and International Studies defines

6468-437: The use of espionage and sabotage. According to Lee Hsi-ming "gray zone conflict is characterized by using the threat of force to create fear and intimidation." US Navy admiral Samuel Paparo has termed gray zone activities "illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive" (ICAP) following the preferred term of Romeo Brawner Jr. The term grey-zone was coined by the United States Special Operations Command and published in

6552-422: The vessels are independent from government control, thus avoiding escalation with other states. At the same time, if militia members are hurt during confrontations with foreign vessels, the Chinese government can claim the need to "defend" its own fishermen, mobilizing domestic nationalism to improve its bargaining position in a crisis. Some of the incidents, which are generally defined as greyzone operations within

6636-448: The vessels' resulting professionalism and sophisticated maneuvers make them more identifiable as government-sponsored actors, dampening their ability to function as a gray-zone force. Such improvements also potentially make militia vessels more threatening during at-sea confrontations, raising the risk of unintended escalations with foreign militaries. The PRC considers its large fishing fleet an essential part of its sea power, helping with

6720-599: Was also from Guangdong. During the early 1920s of the Republic of China , Guangdong was the staging area for the Kuomintang (KMT) to prepare for the Northern Expedition , an effort to bring the various warlords of China back under a unified central government. The Whampoa Military Academy was built near Guangzhou to train military commanders. At the end of the Chinese Civil War Guangdong became one of

6804-400: Was one of the first provinces to receive permission from the central government to receive foreign investment. In addition, until the 1990s when the Chinese taxation system was reformed, the province benefited from the relatively low rate of taxation placed on it by the central government due to its post-Liberation status of being economically backward. Guangdong's economic boom began with

6888-415: Was particularly important from the 1950s through the 1970s, during which it had a significant role in national defense and territorial assertion. In the 1960s and 1970s, the PLAN established maritime militia schools near the three main fleet headquarters of Qingdao , Shanghai , and Guangzhou . Through the first half of the 1970s, the maritime militia mostly stayed near shore and close to China. However, by

6972-613: Was then a Portuguese colony , Hong Kong was ceded to the British, and Kouang-Tchéou-Wan (modern day area of Zhanjiang ) to the French . Due to the large number of people that emigrated out of the Guangdong province, and in particular the ease of immigration from Hong Kong to other parts of the British Empire (later British Commonwealth ), many overseas Chinese communities have their origins in Guangdong and/or Cantonese culture. In particular,

7056-895: Was used as a gateway for traders from the west—as far away as the Roman Empire. Under the Wu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms period, Guangdong was made its own province, the Guang Province, in 226 CE. Canton was a prosperous port city along a tropical frontier region beset by disease and wild animals, but rich in oranges, banyan , bananas, and lychee fruits. They traded slaves, silk and chinaware with Persians , Brahmans and Malays in exchange for their renowned medicines and fragrant tropical woods. Shi'a Muslims who had fled persecution in Khorasan and Buddhists from India lived side by side in

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