Archive | 2015

07 February 2015

CMSI Director Peter Dutton’s Pioneering Testimony on China’s Maritime Sovereignty Claims, Development, and Regional/Global Efforts

For nearly a decade, Prof. Dutton has played a leading role in analyzing and interpreting China’s island and maritime claims, efforts to promote them, and broader goals and trajectory. He has done so for the scholarly and policy communities, the U.S. Navy, and other organizations of the U.S. government. He has drawn on an unusual—if […]

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07 February 2015

China’s Diplomatic School Ranks “Top 20” American China Experts Using Complex Quantitative Metrics

In January 2015, China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU), the nation’s leading diplomatic school, released a report American China Experts (美国 “知华派” 专家, or members of the “School of American-Experts-Who-Know-China”). CFAU Associate Dean Prof. Wang Fan led scholars and analysts from leading universities and research institutions including CFAU, the Central Party School, Peking University, Renmin University […]

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03 February 2015

MOUs: The Secret Sauce to Avoiding a U.S.-China Disaster?

Peter A. Dutton, “MOUs: The Secret Sauce to Avoiding a U.S.-China Disaster?” The National Interest, 30 January 2015.
The American and Chinese militaries have had some close calls and fatal encounters at sea and in the skies. The newly signed MOUs could help prevent future collisions.
On August 19, 2014, a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance […]

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28 January 2015

The Challenge of Maintaining American Security Ties in Post-Authoritarian East Asia

Andrew S. Erickson and Ja Ian Chong, “The Challenge of Maintaining American Security Ties in Post-Authoritarian East Asia,” The National Interest, 29 January 2015. 
Washington must address the challenges associated with political transition to better mitigate the various risks associated with the liberal democratization of its East Asian partners. 
The United States faces challenges trying to maintain […]

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28 January 2015

Under Secretary of Defense Frank Kendall, Senior Pentagon Weapons Developer, Describes Rapid Chinese Ballistic & Cruise Missile Advances–Even “Going Beyond What [the U.S. Has] Done”

Click here for more information on the House Armed Services Committee Hearing at which Frank Kendall, Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology, & Logistics), U.S. Department of Defense, recently testified.
House Armed Services Committee Hearing on Defense Department Technological Logistics
28 January 2015
Frank Kendall, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition:
[Underlining added]
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We’re at risk and the […]

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27 January 2015

“Rebalancing U.S. Forces” Rated “Very Good Book, Yet a Very Easy Read” on Amazon.com

Jesse Semenza, “Very Good Book, Yet a Very Easy Read,” 4-Star Review, Amazon.com, 26 January 2015.
“‘Rebalancing U.S. Forces’ gives an in-depth look at how the U.S. and Allied forces are attempting to manage a growing and modernizing China through overseas basing and the development of new weapons systems. It also gives fresh insight into how […]

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27 January 2015

NDU Publishes China Strategic Perspectives Monograph by Jonathan Ray: “Red China’s ‘Capitalist Bomb’: Inside the Chinese Neutron Bomb Program”

Jonathan Ray, Red China’s “Capitalist Bomb”: Inside the Chinese Neutron Bomb Program, China Strategic Perspective 8 (Washington, DC: National Defense University, January 2015).
Ray examines why China developed and tested an enhanced radiation weapon (ERW) but did not deploy it. He uses primary source documents to reconstruct the ERW program’s history, assesses drivers behind decisions throughout […]

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27 January 2015

Fmr. Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Ichiro Fujisaki Responds to Claims Concerning “the Abe Government’s Expansionist View” and “Territorial Revisionism” by Prof. Alexis Dudden

Words matter. Phrases such as “expansionist view” and “territorial revisionism” should not be used lightly when discussing the unfortunately painful, understandably sensitive, and fortunately not repeatable history of East Asia. It is a pity that Prof. Dudden did not place her assertions in a broader, more balanced comparative context by at least briefly mentioning the […]

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26 January 2015

China’s New “Bling Dynasty” Portrayed in 1 Article & 2 Videos (Warning: Major Conspicuous Consumption)

Wonder what Mao would have thought of all this lavishing vast personal wealth on the most decadent of foreign brands…
Devin Friedman, “The Bling Dynasty,” GQ (January 2015).
You probably know that people are getting rich in China. They lag only behind America in sheer number of billionaires. And you probably know that all of that money […]

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26 January 2015

Jinglue Haiyang: The Naval Implications of Xi Jinping’s New Strategic Concept

Yet again, CMSI’s Ryan Martinson demonstrates why his publications are always mandatory reading for anyone trying to understand China’s maritime policies and actions. I really cannot commend his work to you more highly. If you haven’t already done so, go back and read his previous articles published over the past few months. You’ll be glad […]

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26 January 2015

China SignPost™ (洞察中国) #88: “China’s Public Hospital Governance Reforms are Setting the Stage for Corporatization”

Gabriel B. Collins and Andrew S. Erickson, “China’s Public Hospital Governance Reforms are Setting the Stage for Corporatization,” China SignPost™ (洞察中国) 88 (26 January 2015).

With appropriate legal and policy support, corporatization could begin within the next 2-3 years.
Key Points:

China’s public hospital reform experiments thus far have laid a foundation for corporatization that is stronger than […]

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17 January 2015

New Edition of Ron O’Rourke’s Congressional Research Service Report China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress

Ronald O’Rourke, China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 23 December 2014), RL33153.
Summary
China is building a modern and regionally powerful Navy with a modest but growing capability for conducting operations beyond China’s near-seas region. The question of how the United States should respond to China’s military modernization effort, including its […]

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11 January 2015

Directory of Foreign Aviation Companies in China: Commercial and Defense

Defense News Asia Bureau Chief Wendell Minnick has published an 800-page directory on foreign aviation companies doing business in China (commercial and defense). The book includes the names of Chinese agents handling the company account, press releases, chronologies, speeches, and index. Directory of Foreign Aviation Companies in China: Commercial and Defense is available via Amazon.
Wendell […]

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10 January 2015

“Rebalancing U.S. Forces: Basing and Forward Presence in the Asia-Pacific” Assessed in Warships: International Fleet Review

Peter Hore; review of Carnes Lord and Andrew S. Erickson, eds., Rebalancing U.S. Forces: Basing and Forward Presence in the Asia-Pacific (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2014); Warships: International Fleet Review (December 2014).
… Its meat and potatoes is the strategic pivot being carried out by the USA, which will see 60 percent of the US Navy’s operational effort […]

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09 January 2015

Work Boat World Reviews “Rebalancing U.S. Forces”

Review of Carnes Lord and Andrew S. Erickson, eds., Rebalancing U.S. Forces: Basing and Forward Presence in the Asia-Pacific (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2014); Work Boat World (October 2014): 45.
Our world continues to change very rapidly. The rise of China… led to much re-thinking among America’s defense intelligentsia.
At the forefront of this, as usual, is the Naval […]

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