06 August 2024

Growing Chinese Threat Makes Taiwan World’s Most Dangerous Flashpoint, Defense Analysts Warn

Growing Chinese Threat Makes Taiwan World’s Most Dangerous Flashpoint, Defense Analysts Warn
Stronger U.S. deterrence urged; for key ally, ‘situation could scarcely more urgent’
By Bill Gertz – The Washington Times

The growing threat of a Chinese military attack makes Taiwan one of the most dangerous global flash points for years to come, according to a think tank report.
The report details military […]

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06 August 2024

CMSI Note 7: “PLA Navy Reserve: Out of the Shadows and into the Forefront?”

Tiffany A. Tat, “PLA Navy Reserve: Out of the Shadows and into the Forefront?” CMSI Note 7 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 5 August 2024).

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) Friends and Colleagues –
A few days ago, the PLA celebrated “PLA Day” – a military holiday commemorating the […]

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02 August 2024

Geography Matters, Time Collides: Mapping China’s Maritime Strategic Space under Xi

Honored to contribute to Nadège Rolland’s insightful National Bureau of Asian Research Strategic Space series!
Grateful to Andrew Rhodes for permission to use three of his world-class maps! Click here to see his other cartographic creations, as well as his publications. I’ve made a curated compilation of some of his greatest hits here.
What are China’s military […]

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01 August 2024

Annexation of Taiwan: A Defeat From Which the US and Its Allies Could Not Retreat

Given the consequences for American interests, Taiwan’s fall would be a catastrophic defeat from which America could neither fully retreat nor readily recover. In this new report, we explain the stakes, the urgency, and what to do now. Come for the bulletized Executive Summary, stay for the 168 pages of analysis, including 5 appendices—all backed […]

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16 July 2024

CMSI Note 6: “Sharpening the Sword: Chinese Navy Aircraft Carrier Battle Group Defense Zones”

Daniel Clayton Rice, “Sharpening the Sword: Chinese Navy Aircraft Carrier Battle Group Defense Zones,” CMSI Note 6 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 16 July 2024).

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) Friends and Colleagues –
CMSI is pleased to provide you with CMSI Note #6. This CMSI Note details Chinese Central Television-7 (the CCTV Defense and Military […]

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15 July 2024

Dean, Director, Scholar, Lawyer, Naval Flight Officer: The Peter Dutton Bookshelf

A national treasure here in Newport! For twenty-three years, Dr. Peter Alan Dutton has made superlative leadership, scholarship, teaching, and other academic and policy contributions at the Naval War College.

For over two decades, the NWC professor (2004–) and former China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) director (2011–19) and Interim Dean of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies […]

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02 July 2024

“Modern Chinese Maritime Forces”—1 July 2024 ed.—Order of Battle for World’s Largest Navy, Coast Guard & Maritime Militia by Ship #s

As we steam past mid-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 […]

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02 July 2024

“Personnel of the People’s Liberation Army”—Read Ken Allen’s Testimony Accompanying USCC-BluePath Labs Report

Legendary China military analyst Ken Allen provided the following written testimony for USCC to accompany the Commission’s release of his coauthored BluePath Labs report, Personnel of the People’s Liberation Army. It is published, with permission, for the first time here. Click here to download a cached PDF.

Kenneth W. Allen
Independent Consultant, China Military Analyst
Written testimony for […]

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01 July 2024

China Maritime Report #39: “A Hundred Men Wielding One Gun—Life, Duty & Cultural Practices Aboard PLAN Submarines”

Conor M. Kennedy, A Hundred Men Wielding One Gun—Life, Duty & Cultural Practices Aboard PLAN Submarines, China Maritime Report 39 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, June 2024).

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) Friends and Colleagues –
This report dives deep into Chinese Navy submarine culture – known as “Dragon Palace Culture.” […]

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17 June 2024

Honored to Speak at 20th Aspen Ideas Festival!

“U.S. and China: Edging Toward the Brink?”

Panel on Monday, June 24, 2024 (10:20am – 11:50am)

Doerr-Hosier Center, McNulty Room, Aspen Institute, Aspen, Colorado
Click here to watch a webcast of the panel.
Review the Aspen Ideas Festival agenda here.

Niall Ferguson, the celebrated historian who predicted Cold War II in 2018, assembled the sharpest minds from both sides of […]

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10 June 2024

CMSI Translation #4: “Charging into Battle—A Deeply Entwined Network: A Profile of Wang Chengfei, Director of a Research Office at the Naval Research Academy”

Wang Kun, Ye Zhong, and Zhou Huaiping, “Charging into Battle—A Deeply Entwined Network: A Profile of Wang Chengfei, Director of a Research Office at the Naval Research Academy,” CMSI Translation 4 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 10 June 2024).

Wang Chengfei, Director of a research office and senior engineer at the Naval […]

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10 June 2024

The China Maritime Militia Bookshelf: Latest Wikipedia Entries, U.S. Gov’t Docs, SECNAV Guidance, Official Video—& More!

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, 10 June 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 a […]

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08 June 2024

Watch “The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan” rollout at Stanford’s Hoover Institution

I was honored to join Matt Pottinger and some of his contributors to “The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan” at the book’s rollout at Stanford’s Hoover Institution on 30 May 2024. Sponsored by China’s Global Sharp Power Project and Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region, the event was hosted and run by Pottinger and Larry […]

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31 May 2024

CLSC Dialogues – Ep 7 – Christopher Sharman and Dr. Andrew S. Erickson – China Center Director Series – China Maritime Studies Institute

Honored to speak with China Maritime Studies Institute Director Christopher Sharman on CMSI’s history, missions, scholars, and offerings! Podcast hosted by Kristen Taylor, Army War College Public Affairs and Colonel Richard Butler, Director of AWC’s rapidly developing China Landpower Studies Center (CLSC).

“CLSC Dialogues – Ep 7 – Christopher Sharman and Dr. Andrew S. Erickson – […]

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30 May 2024

Today at 4–5:30 pm PT (7–8:30 pm ET)! “The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan” rollout at Stanford’s Hoover Institution

It’s been a great pleasure to be part of the wonderful group of experts assembled by Matt Pottinger for this important and timely volume, from whom I’ve learned so much. I look forward to joining everyone for the book’s rollout at the Hoover Institution at Stanford today (Thursday, 30 May) from 4:00 pm – 5:30 […]

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23 May 2024

“China’s Maritime Gray Zone Operations” Reviewed by Dr. James Holmes in The National Interest

James Holmes, “5 Essential Books on Maritime Strategy You Need to Read,” The National Interest, 23 May 2024.

Admiral Lisa Franchetti, America’s chief of naval operations or top uniformed naval officer, recently released her first Navy Professional Reading List. The list is solid on the whole. There are, however, many books one could look at. Here […]

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23 May 2024

New CNO Reading List Includes “China as a 21st-Century Naval Power”

China as a Twenty-First-Century Naval Power (2020)
By Michael McDevitt
Xi Jinping has made his ambitions for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) perfectly clear, there is no mystery what he wants, first, that China should become a “great maritime power” and secondly, that the PLA “become a world-class armed force by 2050.” He wants this latter objective to […]

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21 May 2024

Taiwan: The Stakes

Honored to contribute Chapter 2 with Gabe Collins and Matt Pottinger to Matt’s timely, impactful edited volume!
Gabriel B. Collins, Andrew S. Erickson, and Matt Pottinger, “Taiwan: The Stakes,” in Matt Pottinger, ed., The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Hoover Institution Press, 2024), 23–42.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EBOOK COLOR […]

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21 May 2024

20% Discount for Paperback Edition: “Maritime Gray Zone Operations: Challenges & Countermeasures in the Indo-Pacific”

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS A TWO-PAGE PDF OF THE FLYER.

China & North Korea’s Yellow Sea activities illuminated as nowhere else!

Check out the new paperback edition of our book, published in Naval War College Professor Geoffrey Till’s Routledge Cass Series on Naval Policy & History. Sponsored by the Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy (KIMS), it offers:

1) […]

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