30 January 2019

Competitive Coexistence: An American Concept for Managing U.S.-China Relations

Here I propose a new American vision for U.S.-China relations in this challenging new era: the pursuit of “Competitive Coexistence.” This entails engaging sustained Great Power Competition amid the reality of continued PRC existence. Based on the advice I’ve provided to key American officials over the past several years, my definition of this paradigm contains four pillars: (1) Don’t […]

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28 January 2019

Maritime Numbers Game: Understanding and Responding to China’s Three Sea Forces

Andrew S. Erickson, “Maritime Numbers Game: Understanding and Responding to China’s Three Sea Forces,” Indo-Pacific Defense Forum Magazine 43.4 (December 2018): 30-35.

Published online by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on 28 January 2019.
Extensive coverage in David Axe, “U.S. Navy Nightmare: The Chinese Fleet Doesn’t Have 300 Ships, It Has 650—You Have to Count the Chinese Coast Guard and […]

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26 January 2019

China’s Rise & the International Order—Register Now for 7 February DC Rollout Event for New NBR Volume “Strategic Asia 2019: China’s Expanding Strategic Ambitions”

The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) invites you to join them for a discussion and luncheon to mark the release of the eighteenth volume in the Strategic Asia series: Strategic Asia 2019: China’s Expanding Strategic Ambitions, edited by Ashley J. Tellis, Alison Szalwinski, and Michael Wills.
This event will feature remarks by Strategic Asia Program Research Director Ashley J. […]

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26 January 2019

The China Maritime Militia Bookshelf: Complete with Latest Recommendations & Fact Sheet

INFORMATION & ANALYSIS CONCERNING CHINA’S MARITIME MILITIA:

Tracking China’s “Little Blue Men”—A Comprehensive Maritime Militia Compendium
Rarely is a topic so little recognized and so little understood, yet so important and so amenable to research using Chinese-language open sources… To increase awareness and understanding of this important subject, here is a convenient compendium of major publications and […]

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25 January 2019

My chapter on “Power vs. Distance: China’s Global Maritime Interests and Investments in the Far Seas” in NBR’s New Volume—Strategic Asia 2019: China’s Expanding Strategic Ambitions

Andrew S. Erickson, “Power vs. Distance: China’s Global Maritime Interests and Investments in the Far Seas,” in Ashley J. Tellis, Alison Szalwinski, and Michael Wills, eds., Strategic Asia 2019: China’s Expanding Strategic Ambitions (Seattle, WA: National Bureau of Asia Research, 2019), 247-77.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

An examination of China’s maritime power projection along a continuum of national interests and […]

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25 January 2019

National Air & Space Intelligence Center Report—“Competing in Space”—Highlights China’s Major Achievements & Goals

Competing in Space (National Air and Space Intelligence Center/NASIC: Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, December 2018).
Click here to download a cached copy.
 
Key quotes and correlation with other U.S. government statements:
Bill Gertz, “Pentagon: Chinese Military Units Training with ASAT Missiles—China, Russia Militarizing Space to Challenge U.S.,” Washington Free Beacon, 23 January 2019.
 
KEY CHINA-RELATED EXCERPTS FROM REPORT:
 p. 1
After the Cold […]

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24 January 2019

2019 National Intelligence Strategy: Full-Text Report & Key Quotes

2019 National Intelligence Strategy (Office of the Director of National Intelligence, McLean, VA: January 2019).
This National Intelligence Strategy (NIS) provides the Intelligence Community (IC) with strategic direction from the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) for the next four years. It supports the national security priorities outlined in the National Security Strategy as well as other […]

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21 January 2019

New Pentagon-Sponsored White Paper: “AI, China, Russia, and the Global Order: Technological, Political, Global, and Creative Perspectives”

AI, China, Russia, and the Global Order: Technological, Political, Global, and Creative Perspectives (Arlington, VA: Department of Defense, December 2018).
Click here to download a cached copy.
Contributors: Ahmed, S. (UC Berkeley); Bajema, N. (NDU); Bendett, S. (CNA); Chang, B. (MIT); Creemers, R. (Leiden University); Demchak, C. (Naval War College); Denton, S. (George Mason University); Ding, J. (Oxford); […]

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20 January 2019

Pentagon’s 2019 Missile Defense Review Confirms Important Information: “China Has the World’s Most Active Ballistic Missile Development Program & is Developing HGVs”

2019 Missile Defense Review (Arlington, VA: Office of the Secretary of Defense, 17 January 2019).
 Watch President Trump announce the results of the administration’s missile defense review at the Pentagon on 17 January 2019.
Read the Executive Summary here.
Click here to download a cached copy.
 
Breaking analysis:
Thomas Karako, Senior Fellow, International Security Program and Director, Missile Defense Project, […]

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19 January 2019

The Coast Guard is a U.S. Armed Service. Here’s what it secures, why that matters & why it must be paid now for its vital work…

Never thought I’d have to help build awareness regarding Coast Guard service members’ irreplaceable work, but here we are…
The Coast Guard is a U.S. Armed Service whose uniformed personnel safeguard America’s long sea border and enormous exclusive economic zone, both of which are among the world’s very greatest.
Coastguardsmen have served in every American military […]

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15 January 2019

Defense Intelligence Agency Report—“China Military Power: Modernizing a Force to Fight and Win”—Highlights People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia

China Military Power: Modernizing a Force to Fight and Win (Washington, DC: Defense Intelligence Agency, 2019).
Click here to download a cached copy.
Watch the accompanying video here.
Defense Intelligence Agency Releases Report on China Military Power
By DIA Public Affairs

Washington, D.C., Jan. 15, 2019 —Washington, D.C. – (January 15, 2019) The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) today released China Military […]

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15 January 2019

Admiral John Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations: “It important for… the People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia, to operate in a safe and professional manner, in accordance with international law”

“CNO Visits China, Underscores Importance of Professional Interaction at Sea,” Navy.mil, 15 January 2019.
Story Number: NNS190115-13
Release Date: 1/15/2019 2:46:00 PM
From Chief of Naval Operations Public Affairs
NANJING, China (NNS) — Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. John Richardson visited China and met with senior Chinese defense officials, Jan. 13 to 16, to discuss professional interactions at […]

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15 January 2019

New Pentagon Report to Congress: U.S. Defense Implications of China’s Expanding Global Access

Assessment on United States Defense Implications of China’s Expanding Global Access, Supplemental Report to Congress: U.S. Defense Implications of China’s Expanding Global Access (as required by statute) (Arlington, VA: Department of Defense, 20 December 2018).
Click here to download a cached copy.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report assesses China’s global expansion by military and nonmilitary means, implications of […]

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14 January 2019

Chinese Shipbuilding and Seapower: Full Steam Ahead, Destination Uncharted

Andrew S. Erickson, “Chinese Shipbuilding and Seapower: Full Steam Ahead, Destination Uncharted,” Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC), 14 January 2019.

Reprinted as Andrew S. Erickson, “Chinese Shipbuilding and Seapower: Full Steam Ahead,” The Maritime Executive, 18 January 2019. 
Reprinted as “Chinese Seapower: Full Steam Ahead, Destination Uncharted,” RealClearDefense, 25 January 2019.
Selected as one of five 2018-19 top-vote-receiving […]

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14 January 2019

Capability Analysis: Chinese Evaluations of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force (Part 2 of 2)

Gabriel B. Collins, Andrew S. Erickson, Lyle J. Goldstein, and William S. Murray, “Capability Analysis: Chinese Evaluations of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force, Pt. 2,” Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC), 6 November 2018.
This article originally featured in The Naval War College Review in 2008 and is republished with permission. Read it in its original form here. Read Part One […]

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14 January 2019

Capability Analysis: Chinese Evaluations of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force (Part 1 of 2)

Gabriel B. Collins, Andrew S. Erickson, Lyle J. Goldstein, and William S. Murray, “Capability Analysis: Chinese Evaluations of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force, Pt. 1,” Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC), 29 October 2018.
This article originally featured in The Naval War College Review in 2008 and is republished with permission. Read it in its original form here. It will […]

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11 January 2019

The Complete China Maritime Militia Bookshelf: Includes Latest Recommendations & Fact Sheet

INFORMATION & ANALYSIS CONCERNING CHINA’S MARITIME MILITIA:

Tracking China’s “Little Blue Men”—A Comprehensive Maritime Militia Compendium
Rarely is a topic so little recognized and so little understood, yet so important and so amenable to research using Chinese-language open sources… To increase awareness and understanding of this important subject, here is a convenient compendium of major publications and […]

Continue Reading

11 January 2019

Forthcoming from NBR in January 2019—Strategic Asia 2019: China’s Expanding Strategic Ambitions

Strategic Asia 2019 (forthcoming)
China’s Expanding Strategic Ambitions
January 31, 2019
Forthcoming in January 2019, Strategic Asia 2019: China’s Expanding Strategic Ambitions, the eighteenth volume in the Strategic Asia series, describes how China seeks to reshape the international system to serve its strategic aims. Each chapter assesses the country’s ambitions in a particular geographic or functional area and presents policy […]

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11 January 2019

Pathbreaking Article by Expert on the Security Implications of Infrastructure Finance: “Asia Rising: Ships of State?”

The commercial-strategic linkages and state support for PRC port and shipping ventures resemble a twenty-first-century version of the Dutch East India Company. These notionally commercial enterprises operate globally with the full financial and military backing of their home state, and the vessels that connect the ports are “ships of state,” functioning as instruments of Chinese […]

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