Andrew S. Erickson

Dr. Andrew S. Erickson is an Associate Professor in the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College and a core founding member of the department’s China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI). He is an Associate in Research at Harvard University’s John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies (2008-). Erickson also serves as an expert contributor to the Wall Street Journal’s China Real Time Report (中国实时报). In spring 2013, he deployed as a Regional Security Education Program scholar aboard the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group.

In 2012, the National Bureau of Asian Research awarded Erickson the inaugural Ellis Joffe Prize for PLA Studies. During academic year 2010-11, Erickson was a Fellow in the Princeton-Harvard China and the World Program in residence at Harvard’s Center for Government and International Studies. From 2008-11, he was a Fellow in the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations’ Public Intellectuals Program, and served as a scholar escort on a five-Member Congressional trip to Beijing, Qingdao, Chengdu, and Shanghai.

In addition to advising a wide range of student research, Erickson has taught courses at the Naval War College and Yonsei University, and has lectured extensively at government, academic, and private sector institutions throughout the United States and Asia. He has briefed the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations and his Executive Panel, as well as the Secretary of the Navy. Erickson previously worked for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) as a Chinese translator and technical analyst. He has also worked at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong, the U.S. Senate, and the White House. Proficient in Mandarin Chinese and Japanese, he has traveled extensively in Asia and has lived in China, Japan, and Korea.

Erickson received his Ph.D. and M.A. in international relations and comparative politics from Princeton University and graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College with a B.A. in history and political science. He has studied Mandarin in the Princeton in Beijing program at Beijing Normal University’s College of Chinese Language and Culture and Japanese language, politics, and economics in the year-long Associated Kyoto Program at Doshisha University.

Erickson’s research, which focuses on Asia-Pacific defense, international relations, technology, and resource issues, has been published widely in edited volumes and in such peer-reviewed journals as China Quarterly (forthcoming), Asian Security, Journal of Strategic Studies, Orbis, and China Security; as well as in Joint Force Quarterly, The American Interest, Foreign Policy, and China International Strategy Review (中国国际战略评论). 

Erickson is coeditor of, and a contributor to, the Naval Institute Press book series, “Studies in Chinese Maritime Development,” comprising Chinese Aerospace Power (2011), China, the U.S., and 21st Century Sea Power (2010), China Goes to Sea (2009), China’s Energy Strategy (2008), and China’s Future Nuclear Submarine Force (2007); as well as the Naval War College Newport Papers Rebalancing the Force (forthcoming 2013) and China’s Nuclear Force Modernization (2005). He is coauthor of the CMSI monograph Chinese Mine Warfare (2009). Erickson has also published annotated translations of several Chinese articles on maritime strategy. 

Erickson is co-founder of China SignPost™ 洞察中国 (www.chinasignpost.com), a research newsletter and web portal that covers key developments in Greater China, with particular focus on strategic commodities, trade, and security factors. Links to this, and his other publications, can be found at China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国 (www.andrewerickson.com), a website that posts and curates analyses, many based on Chinese-language sources not previously assessed by foreign observers, to offer insights into China and its impact on the world.

Specialties

• China’s military and foreign policy
• Japan/Asia-Pacific security and international relations
• Chinese defense science, technology, and industry
• Maritime and aerospace technology development, history and current status
• Energy, resources, and geostrategy
• Military basing and power projection
• Sino-American relations and contemporary policy issues

 

Favorite Quotations 

 

“A people which does not possess the power to innovate will never take its place among the advanced nations of the world.”
– Jiang Zemin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, 1989-2002; President of the People’s Republic of China, 1993-2003; Chairman of the Central Military Commission, 1989-2005

 

“There’s a certain exuberance that comes from being out on the edge of technology, where things are not certain, where there is some risk, and where you make something work.”
– Joseph G. Gavin, Jr.; director, Apollo Lunar Module Program; president, Grumman Corporation, 1976-85

 

“不是我不明白, 而是世界变得太快.” – 崔健
“It’s not that I don’t understand, it’s just that the world is changing so fast.”
– Cui Jian, father of Chinese rock music

 

Principal Affiliations 

 

The China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) supports the research needs of the U.S. Navy and was established in 2006 to increase knowledge and understanding of the maritime dimensions of China’s rise. CMSI is located at the nexus of the academic, policy, and operational communities. The close proximity of many of the nation’s leading academic institutions offers the potential for unmatched intellectual synergies. Further information is available at http://www.usnwc.edu/cmsi.

 

The U.S. Naval War College’s missions are developing strategic and operational leaders, helping the Chief of Naval Operations define the future Navy, strengthening maritime security cooperation and supporting combat readiness. Since the first class met on 6 October 1884, in an austere loft with nine students, more than 24,000 U.S. military and international officers, as well as hundreds of senior federal service civilian executives, have graduated from the Naval War College. Throughout its history, the college has acted on the belief, first articulated by its founding president, Rear Admiral Stephen B. Luce, that, “The War College is a place of original research on all questions relating to war and to statesmanship connected with war, or the prevention of war.” Each year, approximately 600 specially-selected mid-career level officers of the Navy, other U.S. services, civilian federal agencies, and international naval officers come to the Naval War College as resident students to pursue a rigorous 10-month course of postgraduate studies. More than half the graduates of the college’s senior international course, the Naval Command College, have subsequently become flag or general officers, and more than 190 have headed their respective services. The college’s Center for Naval Warfare Studies, in which CMSI is located, is central to the Navy’s research efforts in maritime strategic thinking. Read more at http://www.usnwc.edu. 

 

The John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University has historically been a post-graduate research center. From the start, its purpose has been to support and advance cutting-edge scholarship in the field of Chinese Studies through sponsoring seminars and conferences, through assisting in the publication of research results, and by welcoming postdoctoral fellows, visiting scholars, and associates in research to the Center. The Center is now adding an additional mission, to include undergraduate and graduate students in its intellectual life, by awarding grants to students and student organizations, by inviting student groups to co-sponsor Center events, and by holding functions for students. The Center participates in many of the student-focused activities on campus that have a China component. The Fairbank Center is a unit of Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The Center works closely with other Asia-focused institutions within the University including the Asia Center, the Harvard China Fund, the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, the Korea Institute, the South Asia Initiative, the Harvard-Yenching Institute and the Harvard-Yenching Library. See http://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/ for further details.

 

The Public Intellectuals Program (PIP), launched by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations in 2005, is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of China specialists who, in the tradition of earlier China hands, have the interest and potential to venture outside of academia to engage with the public and policy community. Through a varied set of activities spread out over two-and-a-half years, the program helps twenty young American scholars and specialists working in various disciplines to expand their knowledge of China beyond their own interests by introducing them to other each other as well as specialists from outside their fields. The program offers unique opportunities for professional development, mentoring by senior scholars, networking, and exposure. PIP fellows gain access to senior policymakers and experts in both the United States and China, and to individuals and fields they would not typically be exposed to, including, for instance, the emerging business and nonprofit sectors in China, as well as the media. The program’s ultimate objective is to upgrade the quality of American public understanding of China by strengthening links among U.S. academics, policymakers, opinion leaders, and the public. For further details, see http://www.ncuscr.org/?q=pip.

 

The Princeton-Harvard China and the World Program offers post-doctoral fellowships to encourage exceptional advanced graduate students and new Ph.D.s to integrate their knowledge of international relations as a discipline with their knowledge of China. The program provides an opportunity for scholars to advance their research, to develop a stronger sense of community with others working on both China and international relations, to forge interdisciplinary ties with China experts in other fields as well as with policy makers and intellectuals without China expertise, and to access the first-class resources in international relations and China that both Princeton and Harvard have to offer. For complete information, see http://www.princeton.edu/cwp/.

 

Contact Information

 

Andrew S Erickson 博士

美国海军战争学院副教授

Andrew S Erickson 博士现为美国海军战争学院战略研究系副教授，并且是该系中国海事研究所的创始成员。他还是哈佛大学费正清中国研究中心副研究员。在2010-2011学年，他担任“普林斯顿-哈佛中国和全球项目”研究员。

Erickson博士的研究聚焦亚太防务、外交政策和科技问题，研究成果广泛刊载于众多期刊杂志，如《亚洲安全》(Asian Security)、《战略研究期刊》(Journal of Strategic Studies)、Orbis以及《美国利益和联合武装季刊》(The American Interest and Joint Force Quarterly)等。他还参与或主编了多部著作。他曾供职于科学应用国际公司 (Science Applications International Corporation)，并先后在美国驻华大使馆、美国驻香港领事馆、美国参议院和白宫就职。

Erickson博士拥有普林斯顿大学国际关系和比较政治硕士、博士学位，此前以优异成绩从阿默斯特学院获得历史与政治科学学士学位。

엔드류 S. 에릭슨 박사

중국해양연구소

전략연구과 / 부교수

미국 해군대학교

팩스: (401) 841-4161