Here I argue that Washington is right to leave the missile-limiting INF Treaty, which Beijing won’t even consider joining, and suggest what this can help the United States to achieve moving forward.
Andrew S. Erickson, “Good Riddance to the INF Treaty: Washington Shouldn’t Tie Its Own Hands in Asia,” Foreign Affairs, 29 August 2019.
In early August, […]
This article examines American bilateral military relations with China in the present context and offers policy recommendations. I propose a four-fold approach that is (1) clear and cogently communicated, (2) conditional and credible, (3) comprehensive, and (4) consistent. The U.S. should emphasize equitable reciprocity and pursue a transactional approach that recognizes that progress can occur […]
Andrew S. Erickson, Joshua Hickey, and Henry Holst, “Surging Second Sea Force: China’s Maritime Law-Enforcement Forces, Capabilities, and Future in the Gray Zone and Beyond,” Naval War College Review 72.2 (Spring 2019): 11-25.
Click here to download a cached copy.
As China’s sea services continue to expand, the consolidating China Coast Guard (CCG) has taken the lead as […]
The following publications regarding the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s rapid development of the world’s largest maritime law enforcement (“Coast Guard”) fleet and key dynamics concerning its force structure are based on far more extensive open source research than can be reflected in the space available for citations within them:
Joshua Hickey, Andrew S. Erickson, and […]
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 […]
Andrew S. Erickson, “Revisiting the U.S.-Soviet Space Race: Comparing Two Systems in Their Competition to Land a Man on the Moon,” Acta Astronautica 148 (July 2018): 376-84.
Click here for complete information on this issue of the journal.
U.S. Naval War College, United States
John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University, United States
Received 31 March 2018, Accepted 29 […]
Andrew S. Erickson and Austin M. Strange, “Scalene Perspectives, Isosceles Ideas and Equilateral Dependence: The U.S.-Europe-China ‘Strategic Triangle’ and Transatlantic Policy,” China International Strategy Review 2016: 337–61.
Click here to read the online version.
The United States (US), European Union (EU) and People’s Republic of China (PRC) are sometimes viewed as a “strategic triangle”, with economic, political, and security […]
Andrew S. Erickson, “Revisiting the U.S.-Soviet Space Race: Comparing Two Systems in Their Competition to Land a Man on the Moon,” Acta Astronautica, accepted manuscript (available online 2 May 2018).
Abstract
The Cold War space competition between the U.S. and the USSR, centered on their race to the moon, offers both an important historical case and larger […]
My latest peer-reviewed article has just been published in the newest print issue of Journal of Strategic Studies. I coauthored it with Professor Adam P. Liff of Indiana University. We address the important but under-studied subjects of Japan’s National Security Council (NSC), its post-2012 institutional reforms, and Sino-Japanese crisis (in)stability. In doing so, we analyze the […]
Andrew S. Erickson and Kenneth Allen, “China’s Navy Gets a New Helmsman (Part 2): Remaining Uncertainties,” Jamestown China Brief 17.4 (14 March 2017).
Part 1 of this series discussed Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong’s background, meteoric rise, and recent promotion to PLAN Commander. However, his appointment raises a number of questions about his role in the PLA Navy’s modernization, […]
My latest peer-reviewed article has just appeared with Prof. Adam P. Liff of Indiana University in the Journal of Strategic Studies. We address the important but under-studied subjects of Japan’s National Security Council (NSC), its post-2012 institutional reforms, and Sino-Japanese crisis (in)stability. In doing so, we analyze the likely implications of recent organizational restructuring and […]
Andrew S. Erickson and Kenneth Allen, “China’s Navy Gets a New Helmsman (Part 1): Spotlight on Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong,” Jamestown China Brief 17.3 (2 March 2017).
A new leader has just taken the helm of the world’s second largest navy. Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong (沈金龙) reportedly replaced Admiral Wu Shengli (吴胜利) as PLAN Commander on January […]
Andrew S. Erickson, “The Next Generation of China’s Navy: Transformation and Transition for the PLAN,” The Diplomat Magazine 27 (February 2017).
As China’s navy undergoes a change in leadership, what lies ahead for the rapidly modernizing service?
On January 17, 2017, 71-year old Admiral Wu Shengli retired from a 41-year career culminating in nearly 11 years as commander […]
Andrew S. Erickson, “China’s Blueprint for Sea Power,” Jamestown China Brief 16.11 (6 July 2016): 3-7.
Powered by the world’s second largest economy and defense budget, China has implemented a consistent, incremental strategy of upholding its outstanding territorial and maritime claims in the Near Seas (Yellow, East, and South China Seas), while more gradually developing an […]
Andrew S. Erickson and Conor M. Kennedy, “China’s Maritime Militia: What It Is and How to Deal With It,” Foreign Affairs, 23 June 2016.
Last October, when the American destroyer USS Lassen sailed by Subi Reef, an artificial island built by China in the South China Sea, a number of Chinese merchant ships and fishing boats maneuvered around it, apparently having anticipated […]
Andrew S. Erickson and Joel Wuthnow, “Barriers, Springboards and Benchmarks: China Conceptualizes the Pacific ‘Island Chains’,” The China Quarterly 225 (March 2016): 1-22.
Barriers, Springboards and Benchmarks: China Conceptualizes the Pacific “Island Chains”
Andrew S. Erickson, US Naval War College, Newport, RI; and Joel Wuthnow, US National Defense University, Washington, DC
Abstract
US government reports describe Chinese-conceived “island chains” in the Western […]
Andrew S. Erickson and Adam P. Liff, “Installing a Safety on the ‘Loaded Gun’? China’s Institutional Reforms, National Security Commission and Sino-Japanese Crisis (In)Stability,” Journal of Contemporary China 25.98 (March 2016): 197-215.
Abstract
As China’s active assertion of its claim to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands has increasingly crowded the surrounding waters and airspace with military and paramilitary forces, the […]
Andrew S. Erickson and Joel Wuthnow, “Barriers, Springboards and Benchmarks: China Conceptualizes the Pacific ‘Island Chains’,” The China Quarterly, available on CJO 2016 doi:10.1017/S0305741016000011; published online by Cambridge University Press 21 January 2016.
A FirstView version of the forthcoming article online may be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0305741016000011.
Click here to read PDF version.
This FirstView version of the article, […]
Andrew S. Erickson, “America’s Security Role in the South China Sea,” Naval War College Review 69.1 (Winter 2016): 7-20.
In this issue, Andrew S. Erickson argues for safeguarding the long-term future of the global maritime commons, including the freedom of the vital international sea-lanes of the South China Sea and the airspace above.
From the Editors:
As the […]
Chinese Undersea Warfare: Development, Capabilities, Trends
Maritime Gray Zone Operations: Challenges and Countermeasures in the Indo-Pacific
Oxford Bibliography: “The People’s Liberation Army (PLA)”
China’s Climate Cooperation Smokescreen: A Roadmap for Seeing Through the Trap and Countering with Competition
Large-Scale Amphibious Warfare in Chinese Military Strategy
Rebalancing U.S. Forces: Basing and Forward Presence in the Asia-Pacific
China’s Near Seas Combat Capabilities
Chinese Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM) Development: Drivers, Trajectories and Strategic Implications
Asia’s Rising Energy and Resource Nationalism: Implications for the United States, China, and the Asia-Pacific Region
Chinese Aerospace Power: Evolving Maritime Roles
China’s S-Curve Trajectory: Structural Factors Will Likely Slow the Growth of China’s Economy and Comprehensive National Power
China, the United States, and 21st-Century Sea Power: Defining a Maritime Security Partnership
China Goes to Sea: Maritime Transformation in Comparative Historical Perspective
China’s Energy Strategy: The Impact on Bejing’s Maritime Policies
China’s Future Nuclear Submarine Force
Chinese Mine Warfare: A PLA Navy 'Assassin’s Mace' Capability
China’s Nuclear Force Modernization
