Andrew S. Erickson

As we follow Admiral Miao Hua (苗华)’s fall and watch for more shoes to drop, it’s useful to reflect on Chinese open source methodology more broadly. With the PRC continually tightening up under Xi, the discipline faces rising challenges. Surveying the state of affairs and reviewing past practices from earlier years of PRC isolation offers […]

Read the latest and greatest from my brilliant my Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) colleague Prof. Ryan Martinson! Review his unique insights on PLA Navy personnel issues as we analyze Admiral Miao Hua (苗华)’s fall and watch for more shoes to drop…
For analysis of Chinese maritime strategy and policy, force development and deployment, […]

Tiffany Tat, Shadow Force: A Look Inside the PLA Navy Reserve, China Maritime Report 43 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, December 2024).

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
The PLA Navy Reserve is an important and understudied element of PRC maritime power. The PLAN Reserve appears to be transitioning from a substandard backup force […]

Andrew S. Erickson and Christopher H. Sharman, “Admiral Miao Hua’s Fall: Further Navy Fallout?” CMSI Note 11 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 28 November 2024).
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A CACHED PDF COPY.

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
Happy Thanksgiving from the China Maritime Studies Institute! We have much to be thankful for.

China’s Navy, […]

Gao Hongwei, Shen Hongquan, and Zhang Tong, “Transformation, How Significant is the Role of an Airfield Station?” CMSI Translation 10 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 25 November 2024).
Transformation, How Significant is the Role of an Airfield Station?1
——News Investigation of a Certain Southern Theater Command Navy Aviation Airfield Station
Improving Core Support Capabilities […]

Apply now to become the next Director, Russia Maritime Studies Institute (RMSI) at the Naval War College (NWC) in Newport, Rhode Island—the Navy’s “Home of Thought”! The next professional in this intellectually pivotal position will provide thought leadership and management for a dynamic team of top-caliber professionals all serving the Navy and Nation—in ways that matter greatly. Akin to […]

New in New Haven! After twenty-three years of superlative leadership, scholarship, teaching, and other academic and policy contributions at the U.S. Naval War College, Dr. Peter Alan Dutton, J.D., has joined Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center as a Senior Research Scholar in Law and a Senior Fellow. His updated bio is appended immediately […]

Andrew S. Erickson, Conor M. Kennedy, and Ryan D. Martinson, eds., Chinese Amphibious Warfare: Prospects for a Cross-Strait Invasion (Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 7 November 2024).
Coauthor of:

Andrew S. Erickson, Conor M. Kennedy, and Ryan D. Martinson, “Introduction: Taking Taiwan by Force? Chinese Amphibious Warfare in the New Era,” 1–12.
Andrew S. Erickson and Gabriel […]

Tian Ying, “Mine Countermeasure Operations in a Cross-Strait Island Landing Campaign,” CMSI Translation 9 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 5 November 2024).

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A CACHED COPY.
From CMSI Director CAPT Christopher H. Sharman, USN (Ret.):
What do PRC authors think about Taiwan’s Mine Warfare capabilities? What can the PLAN do to address […]

China-North Korea Dynamics: Is Their Bond Eroding as North Korea Draws Closer to Russia?
November 5, 2024 | 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
Location: S050, Thomas Chan-Soo Kang Room, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Please click here to register for the event.
Sponsors:

Harvard University Asia Center
Korea Institute, Harvard University
Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University

Speaker: Seong-Hyon Lee, Associate, […]

Cutting-edge cutters! Revealing commentary on the PRC’s fast-growing “Second Navy” by Professor Martinson. Bonus: Scroll down for a curated “Bookshelf” compilation of his world-class work! I guarantee you’ll find something you *didn’t yet know* you needed to know…
Ryan Martinson, “The Voyage of the Meishan and Xiushan: China’s Template for a Blue-Water Coast Guard,” War on […]

Nuclear Challenges: The Growing Capabilities of Strategic Competitors and Regional Rivals (Washington, DC: Defense Intelligence Agency, 23 October 2024).
Click here to download a cached PDF.

CHINA-FOCUSED CONTENT:
p. 1
China
China is undergoing the most rapid expansion and ambitious modernization of its nuclear forces in history—almost certainly driven by an aim for enduring strategic competition with the U.S. and […]

Ryan D. Martinson, “China’s Summer of 2024: The Missing Chapter,” CMSI Note 10 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 16 October 2024).

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
The summer of 2024 saw more People’s Republic of China (PRC) activity in the Arctic and near-Arctic than any year in the past.
Most of the People’s Liberation […]

This landmark history is an instant classic!
Ian Easton, Invasion Plans: Operation Causeway and Taiwan’s Defense in World War II, China Maritime Report 42 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, October 2024).

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
China Maritime Report (CMR) #42, “Invasion Plans” is about Operation CAUSEWAY, the American plan to invade Taiwan during World […]

Blurbs
“Leading international relations scholars Brian Fong and Ja Ian Chong have edited a scholarly tour de force surveying one of the most important, enduring academic and policy issues. They and their well-chosen contributors elucidate today’s latest resurgence of great power competition around the world and in frontier domains. Read now, keep ready for reference!”
— Andrew […]

Zhang Yilong, “U.S.-Philippine Military Cooperation in the South China Sea: Challenges and Responses,” CMSI Translation 8 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 7 October 2024).

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A CACHED COPY.

From CMSI Director CAPT Christopher H. Sharman, USN (Ret.):
Pulled from the August 2023 issue of Naval & Merchant Ships, this CMSI translation provides unique insights into tactics to […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Tracking China’s ‘Little Blue Men’—A Comprehensive Maritime Militia Compendium,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 5 October 2024.

American and Allied knowledge of the PRC’s Third Sea Force has come a long way since my outstanding Naval War College colleague Professor Conor Kennedy and I began our focused research following his arrival in Newport […]

Yesterday, as a new fiscal year began, the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) marked twenty years since its establishment within the Naval War College (NWC) in Newport, Rhode Island.
I was honored to help initiate, and be a part of, the original ‘China Maritime Studies Group’ that approached NWC’s Provost in fall 2004 with the idea […]

As we steam through 2024, China under Xi is steaming full speed ahead, particularly at sea. Navigate today’s troubled Indo-Pacific waters by consulting the latest version of Modern Chinese Maritime Forces—just released! This most recent iteration of the second edition includes sections for PLA Army (pp. 63–75) and PLA Air Force (pp. 76–78) watercraft; the […]