Naval mines are an effective yet inexpensive strategy for an adversary seeking to prevent the United States from moving forces by sea. But they also provide the U.S. Navy with tangible targets in operations short of open warfare, gray zone conflicts with unmarked military forces, or interventions between two warring nations. In short, naval mines can present an opportunity as well as a problem.

Given the lack of a formal defense agreement between the United States and Taiwan, it is unclear how the United States would respond to a conflict between China and Taiwan.1 What is clear is that, at the start of a conflict, China would employ a blockade campaign designed to strike at Taiwan’s economy and military by stopping maritime and air traffic.2

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1. Richard Haass and David Sacks, “The Growing Danger of U.S. Ambiguity on Taiwan,” Foreign Affairs, 13 December 2021.

2. Office of the Secretary of Defense, Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2021 (Washington DC: U.S. Department of Defense, 2021).

3. H.R.2479 - Taiwan Relations Act, 96th Congress (1979–1980), Congress.gov.

4. ADM James Stavridis, USN (Ret.), “Maritime Hybrid Warfare Is Coming,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 142, no 12 (December 2016).

5. Peter Ong, “Lockheed Martin’s Optionally Unmanned Surface Vessel (OUSV),” NavalNews.com, 29 January 2022.

6. James G. Blight et al., Becoming Enemies: US-Iran Relations and the Iran-Iraq War, 1979-1988 (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012), 347.

Lieutenant Commander Cichon served in various ships and staffs while on active duty, including as air warfare project manager at the Royal Australian Navy’s Australian Maritime Warfare Centre and on the Chief of Naval Operations’ staff for the U.S. Navy’s international engagement with Australia, China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Vietnam. He currently works for Booz Allen Hamilton as a defense mission expert.

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