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Andrew S. Erickson China's rapid development is reshaping the world in all dimensions. Chinese language open sources offer insights into these critical trends. While such materials are increasing constantly in number, diversity, and sophistication, only a fraction is available in English. The analyses available here, many based on sources not previously considered outside China, are designed to help bridge that gap--and thereby increase understanding of the most dynamic great power in the international system today.

16 April 2010

Chinese Defense Expenditures: Implications for Naval Modernization

Andrew S. Erickson, “Chinese Defense Expenditures: Implications for Naval Modernization,” Jamestown China Brief 10.8 (16 April 2010): 11-15.
The extent and nature of Chinese defense spending can serve as the parameters for the future course of China’s military power and China’s intentions as it continues military modernization. Recent scholarship on China’s defense spending concludes that its military […]

09 April 2010

Congressional Research Service Report on China Naval Modernization

Ronald O’Rourke, “China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress,” Congressional Research Service, 23 December 2009.
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 issue is of particular importance to the U.S. […]

06 April 2010

“China Sets Sail” Published in The American Interest

Andrew S. Erickson, Lyle J. Goldstein, and Carnes Lord, “China Sets Sail,” The American Interest 5.5 (Summer, May/June 2010): 27-34.
It’s not easy for a traditional land power to go to sea, but China is trying.
China has been undergoing an historic shift in emphasis from land to naval power. Is its maritime buildup a strategic necessity […]

05 April 2010

“Chinese Anti-ship Missile Could Alter U.S. Power”

Wendell Minnick, “Chinese Anti-ship Missile Could Alter U.S. Power,” Defense News, 5 April 2010, p. 6.
… Debate about the existence of a Chinese ASBM program was recently settled by U.S. Navy Adm. Robert Willard in March 23 testimony to Congress. The leader of U.S. Pacific Command told lawmakers that China is “developing and testing a […]

05 April 2010

Going Nowhere Fast: Assessing Concerns about Long-Range Conventional Ballistic Missiles

Austin Long, Dinshaw Mistry, and Bruce M. Sugden, “Going Nowhere Fast: Assessing Concerns about Long-Range Conventional Ballistic Missiles,” Correspondence, International Security, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Spring 2010), pp. 166-84.

Austin Long is Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a member of Columbia’s Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies.
Dinshaw Mistry […]

05 April 2010

Review of China’s Future Nuclear Submarine Force in Strategic Studies Quarterly

Capt. Giles Van Nederveen, USAF (Ret.), review of Andrew S. Erickson, Lyle J. Goldstein, William S. Murray, and Andrew R. Wilson, eds., China’s Future Nuclear Submarine Force (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2007) in Strategic Studies Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Spring 2010).
… This book, a collection of essays presented at a conference on […]

04 April 2010

Beijing Testing ‘Carrier Killer,’ US Warns

Greg Torode, “Beijing Testing ‘Carrier Killer,’ US Warns,” South China Morning Post, 3 April 2010.
… Admiral Robert Willard, the commander of the US Pacific Command, recently told US congressmen that China was both “developing and testing” [an ASBM]—the first formal comment from a senior US official that progress had advanced to the testing phase. …
Foreign […]

01 April 2010

CMSI 2010 Conference–“Chinese and American Approaches to Non-Traditional Security Challenges: Implications for the Maritime Domain”

CMSI 2010 Conference
“Chinese and American Approaches to Non-Traditional Security Challenges: Implications for the Maritime Domain”
Naval War College, Pringle Auditorium
Newport, Rhode Island
May 4-5, 2010
The objective of this conference is derived from the October 2007 Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower goal to “Foster and sustain cooperative relationships with more international partners.” The fifth annual conference of […]

01 April 2010

Naval War College Faculty Engage with Chinese Scholars and Navy at Peking University

Cdr. Carla McCarthy, “Faculty Engage with Chinese Scholars and Navy at Peking University,” Naval War College Public Affairs Office, 1 April 2010.
NEWPORT, R.I. – Five Naval War College (NWC) faculty members recently attended a conference at Peking University in Beijing on the subject of maritime cooperation.
The event, sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation and held March […]

01 April 2010

PLA’s First Carrier ‘Ready by 2012’: Blue-Water Navy Plans Advancing, U.S. Says

Greg Torode, “PLA’s First Carrier ‘Ready by 2012’: Blue-Water Navy Plans Advancing, U.S. Says,” South China Morning Post, 1 April 2010.
China could have its first aircraft carrier operational in two years, according to the most senior US military official in the Asia-Pacific region.
Admiral Robert Willard, commander of the US Pacific Command in Hawaii, told a […]

31 March 2010

Hedging Against Oil Dependency: New Perspectives on China’s Energy Security Policy

Øystein Tunsjø, “Hedging Against Oil Dependency: New Perspectives on China’s Energy Security Policy,” International Relations, Vol. 24, No. 1 (2010), pp. 25-45.
Analysts debate if China will address its increasing reliance on overseas oil supplies and associated vulnerabilities through strategic steps that could lead to conflict or through accommodating market mechanisms. This article utilises on traditional […]

30 March 2010

“A Thoroughbred Ship-Killer”–Proceedings Article on Type 022 Houbei Guided-Missile Fast-Attack Catamaran

Cdr. John Patch, U.S. Navy (Ret.), “A Thoroughbred Ship-Killer,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Vol. 136, No. 4 (April 2010), pp. 48-53.
Small, fast, stealthy, and lethal, China’s new class of fast-attack craft receives little attention. Yet the hull represents a potential success story on how to field small combatants.
Even with its striking design and blue camouflage […]

30 March 2010

CMSI Contributes 4-Article Package to Proceedings China Focus Issue

Proceedings Editor-in-Chief Paul Merzlak explains on his Editor’s Page:
“So, how to look at China, and what does it all mean? The China Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College attempts to help us answer that question. Long-time Naval Institute contributors Andrew Erickson and Lyle Goldstein led their team in putting together a package […]

30 March 2010

Eyes in the Sky: Emerging Chinese Space-Based ISR, Potentially Relevant to ASBM

Andrew S. Erickson, “Eyes in the Sky,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 136.4 (April 2010): 36-41.
With 15 new satellites launched in 2008 alone and an ambitious program to produce more space-based surveillance technology, China is increasing its ability to monitor its near seas with deadly precision.
China is developing increasingly capable naval platforms, aircraft, and missiles that could […]

29 March 2010

China Testing Ballistic Missile ‘Carrier-Killer’

Andrew Erickson, “China Testing Ballistic Missile ‘Carrier-Killer’,” Danger Room, Wired.com, March 29, 2010.
Last week, Adm. Robert Willard, the head of U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), made an alarming, but little-noticed disclosure. China, he told legislators, was “developing and testing a conventional anti-ship ballistic missile based on the DF-21/CSS-5 [medium-range ballistic missile] designed specifically to target aircraft […]

29 March 2010

“The Motherlode” on Chinese ASBM Development

“‘The Motherlode’ on Chinese ASBM Development,” Facing China, 29 March 2010.
…The part [of Admiral Willard’s testimony] that was so provocative to China ASBM-watchers was the use of the word “testing.”  Dr. Andrew S. Erickson, Associate Professor in the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College and a founding member of the department’s China Maritime […]

19 March 2010

Rousing China To Military Dominance

Isaac Stone Fish, “Rousing China To Military Dominance,” Wealth of Nations Blog, Newsweek, 19 March 2010.
…certain members of China’s military are publicly starting to itch for a more assertive role in international affairs. The latest hawkish call to arms is from Ling Mingfu, a senior colonel and professor at China’s National Defense University, whose new […]

15 March 2010

China’s Oil Security Pipe Dream: The Reality, and Strategic Consequences, of Seaborne Imports

Andrew S. Erickson and Gabriel B. Collins, “China’s Oil Security Pipe Dream: The Reality, and Strategic Consequences, of Seaborne Imports,” Naval War College Review 63.2 (Spring 2010): 88–111.
This article was required reading for the Naval War College National Security Decision Making Department’s Strategy and Theater Security course.
It is widely believed in China that overland pipelines would […]

15 March 2010

Book Review: Rising China and Its Postmodern Fate

Andrew S. Erickson, review of Charles Horner, Rising China and Its Postmodern Fate: Memories of Empire in a New Global Context (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2009), Naval War College Review, 63.2 (Spring 2010): 145-47.
This book connects China’s past, present, and future and places them in a larger, evolving context. Horner’s work is nothing […]