The Long Littoral Project: East China and Yellow Seas | A Maritime Perspective on Indo-Pacific Security

This report addresses the major security issues associated with the East China and Yellow seas. It is one in a series of five reports, that examines the five great maritime basins of the Indo-Pacific Oceans: the Sea of Japan, the East China and Yellow seas, the South China Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Arabian Sea. Together these reports are the main element of a yearlong CNA project known as the “Long Littoral.” The purpose of the Long Littoral Project is to offer a maritime perspective on the security issues that the United States must confront as it “rebalances” to a more maritime orientation focused on the Indo-Pacific littoral. The project also aims to identify issues that may be common to more than one basin but involve different players in different regions, with the idea that solutions possible in one maritime basin may be applicable in others.

Unlike the other reports in this series, the East China and Yellow seas basin was the subject of a conference CNA organized to explore this potential maritime flash- point. As a result, the organization of this report is different from its other four counterparts. It consists of an overview essay written by Michael A. McDevitt (the Long Littoral Project Director), and Ms. Catherine K. Lea of CNA’s Strategic Stud- ies division, and five short papers by regional experts. Mr. Abraham Denmark from the National Bureau of Asian Research and Mr. Ken Gause from CNA address specific aspects of the Yellow Sea. Dr. Richard Bush from the Brookings Institution, Ms. Bonnie Glaser from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Mr. Daniel Hartnett from CNA’s China Studies division address different perspectives on the East China Sea.