22 November 2013

Chinese UCAV Takes Maiden Flight

Wendell Minnick, “Chinese UCAV Takes Maiden Flight,” Intercepts Blog, Defense News, 22 November 2013.
Photographs have appeared on Chinese military blogs purportedly showing the maiden flight of the Lijian (Sharp Sword) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV). The photographs first appeared on Chinese language military websites: lt.cjdby.net and huanqiu.com on Nov. 21, supposedly the same day the flight occurred. According to […]

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15 November 2013

Taipei Conference Examines Evolving Chinese Strategic Doctrine

Wendell Minnick, “Taipei Conference Examines Evolving Chinese Strategic Doctrine,” Defense News, 15 November 2013.
TAIPEI — Evaluating changes in Chinese strategic thinking in terms of threat perceptions, doctrine and concepts for employing military power was the theme of an academic conference held here Nov. 14-15.
The Chinese Council on Advanced Policy Studies (CAPS), US National Defense University […]

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15 November 2013

China’s Far Seas “Five-Year Plan”

Andrew S. Erickson and Austin M. Strange, “Erickson and Strange: China’s Far Seas ‘Five-Year Plan’,” Guest Blog Post for Elizabeth C. Economy, Asia Unbound, Council on Foreign Relations, 15 November 2013.
This guest post is by Andrew Erickson, an associate professor in the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College, and Austin Strange, a researcher for the College’s China Maritime […]

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13 November 2013

US Report: 1st Sub-launched Nuke Missile among China’s Recent Strides

Wendell Minnick, “US Report: 1st Sub-launched Nuke Missile among China’s Recent Strides,” Defense News, 11 November 2013.
Wendell Minnick (顏文德), B.S., M.A., is an author, commentator, journalist and speaker who has spent two decades covering military and security issues in Asia, including one book on intelligence and over 1,000 articles. Since 2006, Minnick has served as […]

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13 November 2013

China’s Search for Renewable Energy: Pragmatic Techno-nationalism

Andrew B. Kennedy, “China’s Search for Renewable Energy: Pragmatic Techno-nationalism,” Asian Survey 53.5 (October 2013).
The enthusiasm of Chinese leaders for renewable energy is infused with a pragmatic variant of techno-nationalist ideology. In keeping with this outlook, Beijing supports Chinese wind and solar firms, but it typically proves flexible when important economic partners challenge such policies.
Keywords: China, […]

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05 November 2013

CMSI ‘Red Book’ #10: “No Substitute for Experience: Chinese Anti-Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden”

Andrew S. Erickson and Austin M. Strange, No Substitute for Experience: Chinese Anti-Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden, Naval War College China Maritime Study 10 (November 2013).
In this carefully researched, comprehensive, and highly detailed study, the authors address six major aspects of China’s anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden since their inception in December 2008: Modern […]

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01 November 2013

China and the International Antipiracy Effort

Andrew S. Erickson and Austin M. Strange, “China and the International Antipiracy Effort,” The Diplomat, 1 November 2013.
China has achieved many firsts under the umbrella of antipiracy. These include its first major contributions to securing sea lines of communication (SLOC), a commendable start. World navies do better at protecting vulnerable maritime regions when they cooperate. […]

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24 October 2013

Learning by Doing: PLAN Operational Innovations in the Gulf of Aden

Andrew S. Erickson and Austin Strange, “Learning by Doing: PLAN Operational Innovations in the Gulf of Aden,” Jamestown China Brief 13.21 (24 October 2013).
Chinese planners were seriously concerned about logistical and operational challenges associated with anti-piracy missions near Somali waters long before the first People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) warships were deployed in 2008. In particular, […]

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24 October 2013

Pragmatic Partners, the Unsung Story of U.S.-China Anti-Piracy Coordination

Andrew S. Erickson and Austin M. Strange, “Pragmatic Partners, the Unsung Story of U.S.-China Anti-Piracy Coordination,” Guest Blog Post for Elizabeth C. Economy, Asia Unbound, Council on Foreign Relations, 24 October 2013.
This guest post is by Andrew Erickson, an associate professor in the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College, and Austin Strange, a […]

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23 October 2013

Lifting the Veil on China’s “Carrier-Killer”

Harry Kazianis, “Lifting the Veil on China’s ‘Carrier-Killer’,” The Diplomat, 23 October 2013.
The good folks at the Jamestown Foundation here in Washington D.C. have produced what is clearly the world’s authoritative guide detailing the strategic rationale, development, and ramifications concerning a piece of Chinese military hardware Diplomat readers know all too well: The DF-21D, or the “carrier-killer” as […]

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23 October 2013

China’s Naval Modernization and Implications for the United States

Craig Murray, Andrew Berglund, and Kimberly Hsu, “China’s Naval Modernization and Implications for the United States,” U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Staff Research Backgrounder, 26 August 2013.
In the late 1980s, China began a modernization program to transform the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy from a coastal force into a technologically-advanced regional navy. China’s acquisition […]

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23 October 2013

Ronald O’Rourke, Congressional Research Service (CRS), “China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress” — Latest Edition

Ronald O’Rourke, China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 5 September 2013), RL33153.
Summary
The question of how the United States should respond to China’s military modernization effort, including its naval modernization effort, has emerged as a key issue in U.S. defense planning. The question is of particular importance to […]

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21 October 2013

Diego Garcia: Anchoring America’s Future Presence in the Indo-Pacific

Andrew S. Erickson, Walter Ladwig, and Justin Mikolay, “Diego Garcia: Anchoring America’s Future Presence in the Indo-Pacific,” Harvard Asia Quarterly 15.2 (Summer 2013): 20–28.
Issue Theme: “Asia’s Security Future—National Strategies and Regional Institutions”
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From the Editor: “Andrew Erickson (US Naval War College), Walter Ladwig (University of Oxford), and Justin Mikolay look at the […]

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17 October 2013

China’s Air Force Comes of Age

Robert Farley, “China’s Air Force Comes of Age,” The Diplomat, 17 October 2013.
A recent Andrew Erickson report detailed the constellation of institutional interest and cooperation behind the PLAN’s ongoing deployment to the Gulf of Aden. As Erickson notes, the deployment has required a substantial degree of interagency cooperation, and seems, by and large, to be meeting the needs […]

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10 October 2013

The Relevant Organs: Institutional Factors behind China’s Gulf of Aden Deployment

Andrew S. Erickson and Austin M. Strange, “The Relevant Organs: Institutional Factors behind China’s Gulf of Aden Deployment,” Jamestown Foundation China Brief 13.20 (10 October 2013).
Numerous institutional factors have driven and incentivized China’s participation in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden. Central to executing China’s first instance of protracted Far Seas naval operations has been […]

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01 October 2013

Risks for U.S. in Asia with Shutdown Soap Opera

Andrew S. Erickson, “Risks for U.S. in Asia with Shutdown Soap Opera,” China Real Time Report (中国实时报), Wall Street Journal, 1 October 2013.
As a dangerous game of budget roulette unfolds in the U.S., it behooves all concerned Americans and their representatives to remember that the world continues its rapid evolution and will not wait for Washington to […]

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01 October 2013

Lee Kuan Yew’s Wisdom for Washington: Asian Geopolitics Won’t Shut Down with U.S. Government

As a dangerous game of budget roulette unfolds, it behooves all concerned Americans and their representatives to remember that the world continues its rapid evolution and will not wait for Washington to get its act together. With respect to the most dynamic and important region of the globe, the insights of Singapore’s founding father Lee […]

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01 October 2013

Sunk Costs: China and the Pirates

Andrew S. Erickson and Austin M. Strange, “Sunk Costs: China and the Pirates,” The Diplomat, 26 September 2013.
Maritime piracy is one of many non-traditional security challenges that confront China and other states in the 21st century. After flourishing for over two decades, why has piracy elicited a greater response from China than have other security […]

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09 September 2013

Spring Training for the Big Leagues

Andrew S. Erickson and Austin M. Strange, “Spring Training for the Big Leagues,” Guest Blog Post for Elizabeth C. Economy, Asia Unbound, Council on Foreign Relations, 9 September 2013.
I am delighted to introduce the first of a four-part blog series that will be running through December on the PLA Navy by Andrew Erickson, an associate […]

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