Why China seeks to penetrate the First Island Chain (Opinion)
Viewed from a different perspective, this map shows how the First Island Chain geographically hems in China. (Image: CSBA)
In a risky scenario for the US and its Pacific allies, China has both political and military reasons to conquer and capture Taiwan.
Viewed from China's perspective, there is a natural geographic chain that hinders warships and aircraft of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) from easily reaching out far from its coastline into the Pacific.
Strategists call this the First Island Chain, an imaginary line that stretches from the Japanese archipelago to Taiwan and onward to the Philippines and eventually Borneo and the Singapore Strait.
In a conflict, one can imagine that if countries like the US, Japan and Taiwan sited anti-ship missiles and air defence systems on land and sea mines and submarines in the straits through the First Island Chain, then
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