10 May 2014

The Budget This Time: Taking the Measure of China’s Defense Spending

Andrew S. Erickson and Adam P. Liff, “The Budget This Time: Taking the Measure of China’s Defense Spending,” ASAN Forum 2.2 (March-April 2014).
1Early last month, China announced its projected 2014 defense budget of 808 billion yuan (roughly USD 132 billion), a 12.2 percent increase over the previous year. This continues the double-digit spending increases in […]

Continue Reading

06 May 2014

Bases for America’s Asia-Pacific Rebalance (Part 2 of 2)

Carnes Lord and Andrew S. Erickson, “Bases for America’s Asia-Pacific Rebalance (Part 2 of 2),” The Diplomat, 6 May 2014.
Part two of a two part series evaluating the evolving network of US bases in the Asia-Pacific.
The second part of a two-part series that evaluates the United States’ evolving network of bases in the Asia-Pacific and which […]

Continue Reading

06 May 2014

China’s Maritime Disputes in the East and South China Seas

Peter A. Dutton, “China’s Maritime Disputes in the East and South China Seas,” Testimony before a Hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, 14 January 2014; published in Naval War College Review 67.3 (Summer 2014): 7-18.
Text differs in minor ways from that published online by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Other interesting articles from the Summer […]

Continue Reading

02 May 2014

Bases for America’s Asia-Pacific Rebalance (Part 1 of 2)

Carnes Lord and Andrew S. Erickson, “Bases for America’s Asia-Pacific Rebalance (Part 1 of 2),” The Diplomat, 2 May 2014.
Part one of a two-part series evaluating the evolving network of US bases in the Asia-Pacific.
The first part of a two-part series that evaluates the United States’ evolving network of bases in the Asia-Pacific and the […]

Continue Reading

29 April 2014

Assessing the People’s Liberation Army in the Hu Jintao Era

Like the previous volumes in the National Bureau of Asian Research-Army War College PLA series, this one is worth a close read!
Roy Kamphausen, David Lai, and Travis Tanner, eds., Assessing the People’s Liberation Army in the Hu Jintao Era (Carlisle, PA: Army War College, 2014).
The 2012 PLA (People’s Liberation Army) conference took place at a time when […]

Continue Reading

25 April 2014

Statement of Admiral Samuel J. Locklear, U.S. Navy Commander, U.S. Pacific Command before the Senate Committee on Armed Services on U.S. Pacific Command Posture

Solid-though-predictable content overall, but a few of the most interesting nuggets excerpted below. Great use of the term “Indo-Asia-Pacific”! This goes well with Admiral Locklear’s description of PACOM’s Area of Responsibility as ranging “from Hollywood to Bollywood.” It’s not as if we need too many more acronyms in the government-security studies lexicon, but I think […]

Continue Reading

24 April 2014

China Army Targets Students for Officers to Match Weapons

Henry Sanderson, “China Army Targets Students for Officers to Match Weapons,” Bloomberg News, 24 April 2014.
China’s military has used annual budget increases in excess of 10 percent to buy precision-guided weapons, fighter jets and an aircraft carrier. Now it’s seeking to upgrade its recruits to operate them.
For Wu, a 20-year-old journalism student at a university […]

Continue Reading

23 April 2014

New Edition of Ronald O’Rourke’s Congressional Research Service (CRS) 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, 10 April 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 […]

Continue Reading

22 April 2014

Watching China’s Carrier Dream Materialize–Via Music Video!

Great music video compilation and commentary on China’s emerging deck aviation efforts from my Global Junior Scholars’ Forum on Chinese International Relations (GCIR) colleague Haotian Qi.
***Warning: watching these clips may get some unforgettable images and songs stuck in your head.***
Posted with full credit and permission:

April 23rd is the 65th anniversary of the PLA Navy. AVIC (Aviation […]

Continue Reading

22 April 2014

Parallel Progress, Positive Potential: Sino-American Cooperation to Further Sea Lane Security in the Gulf of Aden

Andrew S. Erickson and Austin M. Strange, “Parallel Progress, Positive Potential: Sino-American Cooperation to Further Sea Lane Security in the Gulf of Aden,” China International Strategy Review 2013 (2013): 479–501.
Click here to read the online version.

Anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden represent a successful example of international cooperation to secure sea lines of communication (SLOC), which involves […]

Continue Reading

21 April 2014

China Goes Ballistic

Andrew S. Erickson and Michael S. Chase, “China Goes Ballistic,” The National Interest 131 (May-June 2014): 58-64.
CHINA IS INCREASINGLY A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH, not only economically but also militarily. Its aggressive stance toward some of its neighbors, along with Asia’s growing economic importance and the need to assure U.S. allies that Washington will increase […]

Continue Reading

20 April 2014

Far Eastern Promises: Why Washington Should Focus on Asia

This cogent article by two experienced experts is a must read! It should help inform U.S. Asia-Pacific policy moving forward, and could help inspire the formal Asia-Pacific Strategy that Washington so badly needs. For key policy recommendations, consider especially the following paragraph:
“In Asia, economics and security are inextricably linked, and the United States will not […]

Continue Reading

17 April 2014

Mearsheimer’s Big Question: Can China Rise Peacefully?

Brilliant piece here by Julian Snelder. Here’s hoping that he’s able to publish more in the future!
Julian Snelder, “Mearsheimer’s Big Question: Can China Rise Peacefully?” The Lowy Interpreter, 15 April 2014.
The University of Chicago’s famed international relations theorist John Mearsheimer has generously updated, and posted free of charge, the epilogue to his legendary realist book The Tragedy […]

Continue Reading

12 April 2014

Bryan McGrath Highlights Must-Read Goldstein-Knight Proceedings Article on Chinese ASW Development

Bryan McGrath, “China Thinks ASW,” Information Dissemination, 11 April 2014.
Lyle Goldstein at the China Maritime Studies Institute is a national treasure (along with his colleague, Andrew Erickson), and he has teamed up once again with Shannon Knight from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center to produce a fascinating article in this month’s Proceedings, which is unfortunately behind the […]

Continue Reading

12 April 2014

Session Videos Now Available: Asan China Conference 2014, “Assessing China’s Power”

Asan China Conference 2014, “Assessing China’s Power”
The Asan Institute for Policy Studies hosted the Asan China Conference 2014 under the theme of “Assessing China’s Power” at 9:30AM on Wednesday, April 2, 2014 at the institute.
The rise of China’s power is a topic of interest throughout the world. Yet, assessing it in a systematic and empirical […]

Continue Reading

10 April 2014

The US Navy and the Pivot: Less Means Less

This provocative piece raises difficult issues that cannot be ignored…
William Kyle, “The US Navy and the Pivot: Less Means Less,” The Diplomat, 31 March 2014.
Five years of Obama administration foreign policy are in the history books as the world continues to move beyond the era of the Global War on Terror. While the jury is […]

Continue Reading

29 March 2014

Keeping the Near Seas Peaceful: American and Allied Mission, Asia-Pacific Interest

Andrew S. Erickson, “Keeping the Near Seas Peaceful: American and Allied Mission, Asia-Pacific Interest,” in Richard Pearson, ed., East China Sea Tensions, Perspectives and Implications (Washington, DC: Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, 2014), 23-30.
By any measure, China’s economy and defense budget are second in size only to those of the United States. China is already a world-class […]

Continue Reading

18 March 2014

Eight Bells Book Lecture on Chinese Antipiracy Operations Reviewed by John Kennedy in Newport Navalog

John Kennedy, Director of Education, Naval War College Museum, “Authors Examine China’s Anti-Piracy Efforts,” Newport Navalog 114.9 (7 March 2014), 8.
Professor Andrew Erickson discussed his new book, No Substitute for Experience: Chinese Antipiracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden, on Feb. 27 at the Naval War College Museum’s Eight Bells Lecture Series. Co-written with Austin Strange, the book […]

Continue Reading

14 March 2014

China Insights from DIA Director LtGen Flynn’s SASC Testimony

Michael T. Flynn, Lieutenant General, U.S. Army, Director, Defense Intelligence Agency, “Annual Threat Assessment,” Statement Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, United States Senate, Washington, DC, 11 February 2014.
Here are the China-relevant excerpts from Lt. Gen. Flynn’s recent testimony. I’ve bolded and underlined the ones I believe to be most interesting and important. These include:

details on China’s growing foreign military sales
confirmation that negotiations remain ongoing for Su-35 sale (I think China is especially interested in the Saturn 117S/AL-41F1A […]

Continue Reading