Andrew S. Erickson

Andrew S. Erickson, “Lengthening Chinese Airstrips May Pave Way for South China Sea ADIZ,” The National Interest, 27 April 2015.
Originally published as: Andrew S. Erickson, “Runway to the Danger Zone? Lengthening Chinese Airstrips May Pave Way for South China Sea ADIZ,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 24 April 2015.
[Links from original version embedded below:]
Never underestimate Chinese engineering. First the […]

Continue Reading

Victor Robert Lee, “South China Sea: China’s Unprecedented Spratlys Building Program,” The Diplomat, 25 April 2015.
Subi Reef looks next in line for an airstrip, as building and reclamation continue with unprecedented speed.
High-resolution satellite images from April 17, 2015 reveal that in the space of ten weeks China has built an island on top of Subi […]

Continue Reading

Andrew S. Erickson, “Runway to the Danger Zone? Lengthening Chinese Airstrips May Pave Way for South China Sea ADIZ,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 24 April 2015.
Never underestimate Chinese engineering. First the Great Wall, then the Grand Canal, and now the Great Wall of Sand.
China is rapidly augmenting features in the South China Sea (SCS) on industrial […]

Continue Reading

Adam P. Liff, “The 2015 US-Japan Guidelines for Defense Cooperation: toward ‘A More Balanced and Effective Alliance’,” PacNet 27, 23 April 2015.
While the media has focused on how Prime Minister Abe Shinzo will treat history in his speech to Congress next week, another historic development should occur days before Abe reaches the podium. Monday, US […]

Continue Reading

To paraphrase Vice President Biden, Russia’s confirmed sale of 4-6 S-400 air defense missile battalions is a big deal. The system’s radar alone is extremely powerful and long-range, and casts a long shadow over the East Asian littoral. The timing on this agreement (inked last quarter 2014, for delivery in ~2017) fits with the prominent […]

Continue Reading

Andrew S. Erickson, “See China’s Secret Ocean Airbase,” Live interview on “Today Asia” Program, CNN International, 17 April 2015.

Click here to watch a re-aired segment of the interview.

Continue Reading

A trenchant analysis of Beijing’s cyber contradiction (矛盾, máodùn).
Amy Chang, “China’s Maodun: A Free Internet Caged by the Chinese Communist Party,” Jamestown China Brief 15.8 (16 April 2015).
China pursues a strategy of aggressive cyberspace management and is in the midst of fostering a military cyber force to further the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) primary interest: […]

Continue Reading

Jeremy Page, “China Building Airstrip in Spratly Islands, Satellite Images Show,” Wall Street Journal, 16 April 2015.
Move seen as step in enforcing territorial claims to disputed island group in South China Sea
BEIJING—Fresh satellite imagery released Thursday shows that China has begun building a concrete runway on reclaimed land around a disputed reef in the South […]

Continue Reading

Andrew S. Erickson, “Revelations on China’s Maritime Modernization: The U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence Offers a Wealth of New Information on the PLA Navy,” The Diplomat, 16 April 2015.
To its first unclassified report on China’s navy in six years, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) has just added sophisticated posters detailing Chinese ships and […]

Continue Reading

Just added to ONI’s report on “The PLA Navy: New Capabilities and Missions for the 21st Century”: posters detailing Chinese ships and aircraft, equipment, and leadership structure. Perhaps most exciting, for the first time ever, ONI is making authoritative, carefully-labeled silhouettes and photos of PLAN and maritime law enforcement (MLE) ships and aircraft available publicly, together […]

Continue Reading

Bryan McGrath, “How Will China View the New Maritime Strategy,” Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, Center for Strategic and International Studies, 8 April 2015.
The military services responsible for American seapower (Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard) recently released their new maritime strategy, entitled “Forward, Engaged, Ready: A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower.” The reviews thus far have been positive, […]

Continue Reading

Bill Gertz, “ONI Reveals Massive Chinese Naval Buildup—New Supersonic Cruise Missile Deployed,” Washington Free Beacon, 10 April 2015.
… The Office of Naval Intelligence, in its first unclassified assessment of the Chinese navy in six years, revealed deployment of the new YJ-18 supersonic anti-ship cruise missile on warships and submarines that analysts say poses a major threat to […]

Continue Reading

Andrew S. Erickson, “U.S. Exposes China’s Growing Maritime Power,” The National Interest, 10 April 2015.
Originally published as: Andrew S. Erickson, “Navy Intel Charts Chinese Sea Change: Office of Naval Intelligence Releases First Unclassified PLAN Report in Six Years,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 9 April 2015.
What a difference six years makes! Since the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence […]

Continue Reading

Jane Perlez, “China Is Rapidly Adding Coast Guard Ships, U.S. Navy Says,” New York Times, 10 April 2015.
SINGAPORE — China is rapidly building Coast Guard ships, the vessels that China most commonly uses for patrols in the South China Sea, and in the last three years has increased the number of ships in that category 25 percent, […]

Continue Reading

Andrew Erickson, “How U.S. Navy Intel Sees China’s Maritime Forces,” War on the Rocks, 10 April 2015.
In its first unclassified report on the subject in six years, the Office of Naval Intelligence depicts a powerful trajectory for China’s maritime forces. Titled “The PLA Navy: New Capabilities and Missions for the 21st Century,” the document and […]

Continue Reading

Andrew S. Erickson and Conor M. Kennedy, “China’s Island Builders: The People’s War at Sea,” Foreign Affairs, 9 April 2015.

Recent satellite images show that the Spratly islands, a series of features in the South China Sea, are growing at a staggering pace. Tons of sand, rocks, coral cuttings, and concrete are transforming miniscule Chinese-occupied outcroppings into sizeable islands […]

Continue Reading

Andrew S. Erickson, “Navy Intel Charts Chinese Sea Change: Office of Naval Intelligence Releases First Unclassified PLAN Report in Six Years,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 9 April 2015.
What a difference six years makes! Since the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) last issued an unclassified report on China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in 2009, […]

Continue Reading

Capt. Takuya Shimodaira, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, “Cooperating in the South China Sea,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 141.4 (April 2015).
Humanitarian aid/ disaster relief offers the ideal means for China to work in harmony with fellow Asian nations—and Japan is uniquely suited by hard experience to be a guiding force.
In the last 20 years, the People’s […]

Continue Reading

Christopher H. Sharman, China Moves Out: Stepping Stones toward a New Maritime Strategy, China Strategic Perspectives 9 (Washington, DC: National Defense University, April 2015).
Commander Christopher Sharman, a Navy officer and National War College student, has just published a new NDU China Strategic Perspectives monograph, “China Moves Out: Stepping Stones toward a New Maritime Strategy.” Based on detailed analysis of 11 […]

Continue Reading