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Andrew S. Erickson China's rapid development is reshaping the world in all dimensions. Chinese language open sources offer insights into these critical trends. While such materials are increasing constantly in number, diversity, and sophistication, only a fraction is available in English. The analyses available here, many based on sources not previously considered outside China, are designed to help bridge that gap--and thereby increase understanding of the most dynamic great power in the international system today.

06 July 2010

Chinese Anti-Ship Cruise Missile Firing as Part of Combined Arms Anti-Carrier Exercises in East China Sea, 30 June-5 July

A new window into Chinese naval combined arms operations involving warships and fighter jets opened recently in the East China Sea. There the PLA carried out “live firing training” in a relatively small box-shaped area off Zhejiang Province between Zhoushan and Taizhou, within China’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the East China Sea from 30 June-5 July. The core […]

02 July 2010

CMSI Research Featured Extensively in U.S.-Japan Navy Friendship Association (JANAFA) Bulletin

“連載記事 (米国から見た中国のSea Power)” [Paper Series: “Chinese Sea Power as Viewed from America”], U.S.-Japan Navy Friendship Association (JANAFA) Bulletin, No. 38 (1 July 2010), pp. 8-30.
“中国のSea Powerに関する米海軍大学中国海洋研究所の論文紹介” [An Introduction to the U.S. Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute’s Research Paper Series on Chinese Sea Power], pp. 8-9.
“公開論文1: 中国の活発な造船工業についての包括的調査–商業的開発と戦略的関連” [Published Paper 1: A Comprehensive Survey of […]

29 June 2010

Erickson Quoted in South China Morning Post on East China Sea Military Exercises

Greg Torode, “Fears Grow that PLA May Test ‘Carrier Killer,’” South China Morning Post, 30 June 2010.
Whenever China conducts military exercises or tests, the growing band of foreign analysts charting its modernisation wonder whether it will launch the game-changer – the so-called “aircraft-carrier killer” that no nation has yet tested. …
Respected US-based military scholar Dr […]

28 June 2010

Erickson ASBM Archive Cited in Washington Post; Drudge Report Linked to Article

John Pomfret, “China Pushing The Envelope on Science, and Sometimes Ethics,” The Other Superpower series, Washington Post, 28 June 2010.
…Centuries after it led the world in technological prowess — think gunpowder, irrigation and the printed word — China has barged back into the ranks of the great powers in science. With the brashness of a […]

01 June 2010

Letter to Proceedings Editor by Rear Admiral Eric McVadon on Erickson, Hooper-Albon ASBM Debate

Rear Admiral Eric A. McVadon, U.S. Navy (Retired); Response to “Get off the Fainting Couch,” C. Hooper and C. Albon, pp. 42-47, April 2010; A. Erickson, pp. 8-12, May 2010 Proceedings; and “Eyes in the Sky,” A. Erickson, pp. 36-41, April 2010 Proceedings; U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Vol. 136, No. 6 (June 2010), p. 82.
Dr. […]

01 June 2010

China Goes to Sea “Highly Recommended” in Choice

R. Higham, review of Andrew S. Erickson, Lyle J. Goldstein, and Carnes Lord, eds., China Goes to Sea: Maritime Transformation in Comparative Historical Perspective (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2009); Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Vol. 47, No. 9 (May 2010).
The excellent idea behind this collection is the historical comparison of how other powers […]

30 May 2010

Presented on China’s Contributions to the Security of Seaborne Commerce in Asia at Shanghai Forum 2010

Andrew S. Erickson, “From Shanghai to Somalia: China’s Contributions to the Security of Seaborne Commerce in Asia and Beyond,” presented at “Reorganization of Anti-terrorism in Asia” panel, Shanghai Forum 2010, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, 30 May 2010.

Dr. Andrew S. Erickson, Associate Professor in the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College, gave […]

28 May 2010

Evolving Aerospace Trends in the Asia-Pacific Region: Implications for Stability in the Taiwan Strait and Beyond

Mark Stokes and Ian Easton, “Evolving Aerospace Trends in the Asia-Pacific Region: Implications for Stability in the Taiwan Strait and Beyond,” Project 2049 Institute Occasional Paper Series, 28 May 2010.
Aerospace power is unquestionably defining the future strategic environment in a region whose vast distances place a premium on speed and agility that defy the laws […]

26 May 2010

First Issue of China Signpost 洞察中国™ — #1: “Oversea Trumps Overland: China’s Oil Supply Future is Maritime”

Andrew S. Erickson and Gabriel B. Collins, “Oversea Trumps Overland: China’s Oil Supply Future is Maritime,” China Signpost 洞察中国™ 1 (26 May 2010).
China Signpost 洞察中国™–“Clear, high-impact China analysis.”©

China is now the world’s second-largest oil user.
40% of its oil comes by sea.
Pipelines will not reduce China’s growing seaborne oil imports.
Increasing reliance on sea lane security worries Chinese […]

25 May 2010

Erickson Research on China ASBM Cited by Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett in U.S.-China Commission Testimony

Testimony of the Honorable Roscoe G. Bartlett, Hearing on “China’s Emergent Military Aerospace and Commercial Aviation Capabilities,” U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Washington, DC, 20 May 2010, p. 3.
U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Maryland), the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee’s (HASC) Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces, testified on […]

24 May 2010

Library of Congress: Science and Technology in the People’s Republic of China

“Science and Technology in the People’s Republic of China,” Tracer Bullet 10-4, Science Reference Series, Library of Congress, 24 May 2010.
This bibliographic guide references English-language sources on scientific and technological developments in China beginning in October 1949, following the Communist revolution. Little was known about the inner workings and policies of the newly-formed government, including […]

18 May 2010

AirSea Battle: A Point-of-Departure Operational Concept

Jan van Tol, with Mark Gunzinger, Andrew Krepinevich, and Jim Thomas, AirSea Battle: A Point-of-Departure Operational Concept (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, 18 May 2010).
The US military today faces an emerging major operational challenge, particularly in the Western Pacific Theater of Operations (WPTO). The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) ongoing efforts to […]

17 May 2010

“China’s Maritime Moves Prove a Game-Changer”

“China’s Maritime Moves Prove a Game-Changer,” Canberra Times, 17 May 2010, A9.
… To discourage the US or other foreign navies from intervening in Bejing’s declared sphere of influence around Taiwan and in the South and East China Seas in a crisis, Chinese military strategists have developed a set of weapons and tactics to deny hostile […]

14 May 2010

Potential ASBM Countermeasures: “The Strategic Implications of Obscurants”

Thomas J. Culora, “The Strategic Implications of Obscurants: History and the Future,” Naval War College Review, Vol. 63, No. 3 (Summer 2010), pp. 73-84.
Throughout history, smoke has been used in various forms to obscure naval forces at sea. During prominent naval battles in the twentieth century, from Jutland in World War I to the U.S. […]

14 May 2010

Chinese Missile Strategy and the U.S. Naval Presence in Japan: The Operational View from Beijing

Toshi Yoshihara, “Chinese Missile Strategy and the U.S. Naval Presence in Japan: The Operational View from Beijing,” Naval War College Review, Vol. 63, No. 3 (Summer 2010), pp. 39-62.
In recent years, defense analysts in the United States have substantially revised their estimates of China’s missile prowess. A decade ago, most observers rated Beijing’s ballistic missiles […]

14 May 2010

Jeremy Black, University of Exeter, Reviews China Goes to Sea

Jeremy Black, “The Pursuit of Maritime Transformation”; review of Andrew S. Erickson, Lyle J. Goldstein, and Carnes Lord, eds., China Goes to Sea: Maritime Transformation in Comparative Historical Perspective (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, July 2009); Naval War College Review, Vol. 63, No. 3 (Summer 2010), pp. 156-57.
The third book in the Naval Institute Press’s […]

12 May 2010

“U.S. Satellites Shadow China’s Submarines”

Peter J. Brown, “U.S. Satellites Shadow China’s Submarines,” Asia Times, 12 May 2010.
… “Chinese experts reportedly received technical assistance from Russian satellite experts in years following the Soviet Union’s collapse,” said associate professor Andrew Erickson at the China Maritime Studies Institute. “Specialists at the State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environmental Dynamics have researched ship […]

11 May 2010

NWC CMSI Conference Addresses Sino-American Non-Traditional Maritime Security Challenges

“Naval War College Discusses Chinese and American Maritime Challenges,” Naval War College Public Affairs, 11 May 2010.
NEWPORT, R.I. – The China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) at the Naval War College presented a conference, May 4-5, entitled “Chinese and American Approaches to Non-Traditional Security Challenges: Implications for the Maritime Domain.”
This annual conference served to continue a […]

06 May 2010

Letter to Proceedings Editor re China ASBM Development

Andrew S. Erickson, Response to “Get Off the Fainting Couch,” C. Hooper and C. Albon, pp. 42-47, April 2010 Proceedings, U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Vol. 136, No. 5 (May 2010), pp. 8-12.
I welcome the authors’ forceful contribution concerning Chinese antiship ballistic missile (ASBM) development. They correctly underscore Chinese sensitivity, and vulnerability, to foreign prompt global […]