First Island Chain and Second Island Chain
Context:
China has commissioned its latest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, third carrier and the first it has indigenously designed and built.
The deployment of three Chinese aircraft carrier groups in the open waters of the Pacific Ocean has underscored a critical advance in Beijing’s ambitions to become a blue-water navy by 2035.
Beijing’s Deep-Blue Naval Strategy:
Over 80% of China’s oil imports and trade transit through chokepoints like the Malacca Strait, Luzon strait (between Taiwan and Philippines) and South China Sea, making the area central to China’s energy and economic security.
For China, one goal is to dominate the near waters of the South China Sea, East China Sea and Yellow Sea around the so-called First Island Chain, which runs south through Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.
But deeper into the Pacific, it also wants to be able to contest control of the Second Island Chain, where the U.S. has important military facilities on Guam.
First Island Chain:
The United States, Japan, Australia, the UK (AUKUS) and QUAD members view the First Island Chain as a defensive perimeter critical to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific.
The First Island Chain is a string of archipelagos stretching from the Japanese archipelago (including the Ryukyus and Okinawa), Taiwan, the northern Philippines, and Borneo — effectively enclosing China’s eastern and southeastern coasts within the East China Sea and South China Sea.
Key Island Groups and Features (North → South)
Japan
Taiwan
China-administered
Kuril Islands
Penghu
Paracel Islands
Hokkaido
Kinmen&Matsu (near China)
Spratly Islands
Kyushu
Scarborough Shoal
Ryukyu Islands chain
The above islands are all located around this first chain.
First Island chain forms the frontline of maritime containment for China.
Second Island Chain:
Lies further east, running roughly from Japan through the Mariana Islands (including Guam and Saipan) and southward to Palau and Papua New Guinea.
Here the U.S. has important military facilities on Guam, serving as forward logistics and reinforcement hubs.
The U.S. and allies are responding with stronger deployments, trilateral drills (U.S.–Japan–Philippines), and expanded base access (e.g., AUKUS submarines, U.S. bases in the Philippines, and Japan’s rearmament)
Key Island Groups and Features (North → South)
Japan à Ogasawara (Bonin)
USA à Mariana; Guam; Saipan
Value addition:
Nine-Dash Line is China’s self-declared maritime boundary in South China Sea.
it encompasses about 90% of the South China Sea, cutting into the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia.
The line has no basis in international law — the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague ruled in 2016 that China’s claims under it are “without legal foundation” under UNCLOS