Quoted in Brad Dress’s Article in The Hill: “Navy Pushes to Catch up to China’s Superiority at Sea”
Brad Dress, “Navy Pushes to Catch up to China’s Superiority at Sea,” The Hill, 30 September 2024.
… … … China is likely prepar[ing] for what could be one of the more likely scenarios playing out in a Taiwan event: a Chinese blockade….
Andrew Erickson, a professor of strategy at the U.S. Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute, said a blockade scenario “makes China’s sea forces all the more important to analyze.”
“They are among the most relevant forces for operationalizing and implementing such a campaign,” he said.
But Erickson added that China is also building out a robust anti-navy force that includes anti-ship ballistic missiles and drones, and that Xi has “confidence in the military industrial base” to produce his weapons.
“We can see a marked contrast right now: China is building large numbers of the same systems,” he said. “They’re doing a lot of stuff at once.” … … …
