Andrew S. Erickson

Thomas Shugart and J. Michael Dahm, “Flooding the Zone: The Use of Civilian Landing Craft (LCTs) in PLA Amphibious Operations,” CMSI Note 18 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 7 January 2026).

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From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
China PLA Watchers: Many have argued that the PLA lacks […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “The China Navy Leadership: Corruption & Capabilities Bookshelf,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 5 January 2026.

Since Xi assumed power in 2012, scores of flag and general officers and defense industry leaders have been removed. This is part of a larger pattern across China’s entire Party-State-Military bureaucracy. By my earlier tally, Xi-era […]

Bill Gertz, “PLA: War Games Practice for a Taiwan Takeover,” The Washington Times, 31 December 2025.
Disclaimer: The perspectives expressed here are those of the author alone, based solely on open sources. They do not represent the views, policies, or positions of the Naval War College, the Department of the Navy, or any other organization of the […]

Start the New Year right with the 1 January 2026 edition of “Modern Chinese Maritime Forces,” the the most complete open source PRC sea services inventory! As we approach the Year of the Horse (丙午/“Fire Horse”), China under Xi is steaming full speed ahead, particularly at sea. Navigate troubled Indo-Pacific waters by consulting the latest […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “The Pentagon’s New China Report: ‘Conventional’ ICBMs, More Nuclear Weapons and New Aircraft Carriers on the Horizon,” 19FortyFive, 29 December 2025.
Disclaimer: The perspectives expressed here are those of the author alone, based solely on open sources. They do not represent the views, policies, or positions of the Naval War College, the Department of […]

Corruption, Cashiering, Continued Progress:
New China Military Power Report Probes PLA Leadership and Organizational Trends
Andrew S. Erickson[1]
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author alone, based solely on open sources. They do not necessarily represent the views, policies, or positions of the U.S. Department of War or its components, to include the Department of […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “World’s Fastest Nuclear Force Ramp-Up: Strengthening for China’s 2027 Goal Despite Disciplinary Removals,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 27 December 2025.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author alone, based solely on open sources. They do not necessarily represent the views, policies, or positions of the U.S. Department of […]

China’s DF-27 Conventional ICBM and ASBM:
Threatening America’s Homeland, Pacific Ships, and Escalation Risks
Andrew S. Erickson
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author alone, based solely on open sources. They do not necessarily represent the views, policies, or positions of the U.S. Department of War or its components, to include the Department of the […]

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author alone, based solely on open sources. They do not necessarily represent the views, policies, or positions of the U.S. Department of War or its components, to include the Department of the Navy or the U.S. Naval War College.
The Pentagon’s new China Military Power Report focuses […]

Office of the Secretary of War, Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2025 (Washington, DC: Department of Defense/War, 23 December 2025).

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The Pentagon’s new China Military Power Report focuses on concisely reviewing new PLA & related developments (rather than rehashing previous years’s analysis or providing general […]

Now that the Pentagon has just released the 2025 China Military Power Report (CMPR)… you can access the Full Text & accompanying documents below. Since I couldn’t find a single-source location on the Internet, and the Pentagon has deactivated some of the previous links, I decided to make my own. Now you can download cached PDFs […]

Andrew S. Erickson, Review of Brian C.H. Fong, U.S.-China Rivalry: Great Power Competition in the Indo-Pacific (Edinburgh, Scotland, UK: Edinburgh University Press, November 2024); in Naval War College Review 78.2 (Summer/Fall 2025): 145–46.

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US-China Rivalry: Great Power Competition in the Indo-Pacific, by Brian C. H. Fong. Edinburgh Univ. Press, 2024. […]

Ying Tian, “A New Pillar for Distant Oceans: Concepts for the Chinese Navy’s New Generation of General-Purpose Destroyers,” CMSI Translation 25 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 18 December 2025).

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From CMSI Director CAPT Christopher H. Sharman, USN (Ret.):
China Navy Watchers: What kind of surface combatant does China’s […]

Honored to see our latest coedited volume, “Chinese Amphibious Warfare,” on the Commandant of the Marine Corps Professional Reading Program’s 2025 and 2026 Reading Lists!

“Explores China’s military modernization and strategic ambitions for Taiwan amid rising Great Power tensions.”
One of five books on “Great Power Competition.”
Listed under “Strategy: Examines the art of aligning ends, ways, and means […]

Maritime Geopolitics of the Belt and Road Initiative, CMSI Quarterly Review 1.1 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 9 December 2025).

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FROM THE DIRECTOR 
The China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) Translation Vault 
This series presents a curated collection of open-source Chinese-language journal and newspaper articles that were originally published […]

John B. Hattendorf, Sailors and Scholars: The History of the U.S. Naval War College, 1884–2009, Second Edition, Vol. 2 (Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 2025), 546–49, 553–54; 412–13, 418, 468, 530, 640, 649, 695–96, 729.
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From CMSI Director CAPT Christopher H. Sharman, USN (Ret.):
China Military […]

Camilla T. N. Sørensen and Adam Buschard, Kina som global militær stormagt – militærstrategiske perspektiver for dansk forsvar [China as a Global Military Power—Military Strategic Perspectives for Danish Defense] (Syddansk Universitetsforlag i samarbejde med Forsvarsakademiet [Southern Danish University Press in collaboration with the Royal Danish Defence College], 10 June 2025).

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Andrew S. Erickson, “An Oxbow in the River of Time? ‘River Elegy’ and China’s Quest for Modern Greatness,” Harvard Fairbank Center Blog Post, 19 November 2025.
Professor Erickson revisits River Elegy, the banned 1988 documentary series, and the landmark moment to which it’s tied: when China publicly questioned its own traditions, urging openness, democracy, and scientific progress […]

Rear Admiral Zhu Chuansheng, “Accelerating the Development of Marine Corps Combat Capabilities to Win in High-End Maritime Warfare,” CMSI Translation 24 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 19 November 2025).

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From CMSI Director CAPT Christopher H. Sharman, USN (Ret.):
This CMSI translation provides unparalleled insights into the development and […]