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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.

07 November 2022

CMSI China Maritime Report #24: “Incubators of Sea Power: Vessel Training Centers and the Modernization of the PLAN Surface Fleet”

Ryan D. Martinson, Incubators of Sea Power: Vessel Training Centers and the Modernization of the PLAN Surface Fleet, China Maritime Report 24 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, November 2022).

About the Author
Ryan D. Martinson is a researcher in the China Maritime Studies Institute at the Naval War College. He holds a master’s degree […]

27 October 2022

Key China Content! From New 2022 National Defense Strategy-Nuclear Posture Review-Missile Defense Review

2022 National Defense Strategy of the United States of America, Including the 2022 Nuclear Posture Review and the 2022 Missile Defense Review (Washington, DC: Department of Defense, 27 October 2022).
First-ever release of UNCLASS Nuclear Posture Review and UNCLASS Missile Defense Review in the same document.
Click here to read the background summary.

NATIONAL DEFENSE STRATEGY
 p. iii
The NDS directs the Department to […]

14 October 2022

Maritime Gray Zone Operations: Challenges and Countermeasures in the Indo-Pacific

China & North Korea’s Yellow Sea activities illuminated as never before!

Check out our new 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) An authoritative Preface by former Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet Admiral Scott Swift (USN, […]

12 October 2022

New U.S. National Security Strategy: Key China Content

National Security Strategy (Washington, DC: The White House, 12 October 2022).

Click here to read “Fact Sheet” summary.

p. 3

The People’s Republic of China harbors the intention and, increasingly, the capacity to reshape the international order in favor of one that tilts the global playing field to its benefit, even as the United States remains committed to managing the competition […]

08 October 2022

Harvard Fairbank Center Book Launch & Panel Discussion—“The China Questions 2” & “What Does China’s Rise Mean for the U.S.?”—Thursday, 13 October, 4:30–6:00 PM

Panel Discussion – What Does China’s Rise Mean for the United States?

13 October 2022 @ 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm

Click here to register for hybrid attendance via Zoom.

For decades Americans have described China as a rising power. That description no longer fits: China has already risen. What does this mean for the US–China relationship? For the […]

07 October 2022

CMSI China Maritime Report #23: “The Type 075 LHD: Development, Missions, and Capabilities”

Conor M. Kennedy and Daniel Caldwell, The Type 075 LHD: Development, Missions, and Capabilities, China Maritime Report 23 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, October 2022).

About the Authors
Conor M. Kennedy is a research associate at the China Maritime Studies Institute in the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. He received his MA […]

05 October 2022

New! “Modern Chinese Maritime Forces”—1 October 2022 ed.—Order of Battle for World’s Largest #s of Navy & Coast Guard & Maritime Militia Ships

This is the most comprehensive unclassified Chinese maritime order of battle, ship silhouettes, and data available anywhere. It tracks the world’s most-numerous Navy, Coast Guard, and Maritime Militia vessels in unrivaled detail. Even just flipping through this volume for a minute reveals the staggering scope and extent of PRC sea power across the waterfront today. I […]

01 October 2022

China-Russia Resources: An Open Source Compendium

This post is under construction. Please check back soon for new content.
Meanwhile, if you haven’t already, please be sure to examine the superb new edited volume detailed below…
***
Sarah Kirchberger, Svenja Sinjen, and Nils Wörmer, eds., Russia-China Relations: Emerging Alliance or Eternal Rivals? (New York, NY: Springer, 2022).
Click here to access full-text PDF.

This open access book examines Russia-China […]

21 August 2022

2013 PRC-Ukraine Treaty of Friendship & Cooperation/Joint Communiqué: Russian, Ukrainian & Chinese Documents, Context, Timeline

Andrew S. Erickson, “2013 PRC-Ukraine Treaty of Friendship & Cooperation/Joint Communiqué: Russian, Ukrainian & Chinese Documents, Context, Timeline,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 29 August 2022. 
(Please note: The original post of 21 August 2022 has been updated to include full Chinese– and Ukrainian-language texts of the 2013 PRC-Ukraine Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation.)
Since the beginning of […]

05 August 2022

How Will China’s National Power Evolve Vis-à-vis the United States?

Andrew S. Erickson, “How Will China’s National Power Evolve Vis-à-vis the United States?” in Maria Adele Carrai, Jennifer Rudolph, and Michael Szonyi, eds., The China Questions 2: Critical Insights into U.S.-China Relations (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2022), 161–170.

Volume received Honorable Mention, 2023 Buchanan Prize for Curricular Materials, Association for Asian Studies.

The United States and China increasingly differ in […]

16 July 2022

CMSI China Maritime Report #22: “Logistics Support for a Cross-Strait Invasion: The View from Beijing”

Kevin McCauley, Logistics Support for a Cross-Strait Invasion: The View from Beijing, China Maritime Report 22 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, July 2022).

About the Author
Kevin McCauley has served as senior intelligence officer for the Soviet Union, Russia, China, and Taiwan during 31 years in the federal government, as well as an […]

08 July 2022

The Gabe Collins Bookshelf: China Energy, Strategic Resources, Security Implications & More!

Once a versatile China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) team member with us at the U.S. Naval War College, subsequently the co-founder (with me) of our China SignPost™ 洞察中国 analytical website, and a valued research colleague ever since, Gabe Collins is one of the only professionals I know of who generates analysis of the highest caliber from […]

05 July 2022

Lessons from the Lunar Module Program: The Director’s Conclusions

Andrew S. Erickson, “Lessons from the Lunar Module Program: The Director’s Conclusions,” in Otfried Liepack, ed., Proceedings of the Fifty-Third History Symposium of the International Academy of Astronautics, American Astronautical Society (AAS) History Series, Vol. 52 (San Diego, CA: Univelt, 2022), 529–62.

Click here for information on the volume.

Chapter 25
Lessons from the Lunar Module Program: The Director’s […]

05 July 2022

Joseph Gavin and MIT’s Contribution to Aeronautics and Astronautics

Andrew S. Erickson, “Joseph Gavin and MIT’s Contribution to Aeronautics and Astronautics,” in Otfried Liepack, ed., Proceedings of the Fifty-Third History Symposium of the International Academy of Astronautics, American Astronautical Society (AAS) History Series, Vol. 52 (San Diego, CA: Univelt, 2022), 289–98.

Click here for information on the volume.

Chapter 14
Joseph Gavin and MIT’s Contribution to Aeronautics and […]

01 July 2022

Order of Battle for World’s Most-Numerous Navy/Coast Guard/Maritime Militia Ships—“Modern Chinese Maritime Forces”—1 July 2022 ed.

This is the most comprehensive unclassified Chinese maritime order of battle, ship silhouettes, and data available anywhere. It tracks the world’s most-numerous Navy, Coast Guard, and Maritime Militia vessels in unrivaled detail. Even just flipping through this volume for a minute reveals the staggering scope and extent of PRC sea power across the waterfront today. I […]

20 June 2022

Timely, Insightful Volume: “Russia-China Relations: Emerging Alliance or Eternal Rivals?”

Sarah Kirchberger, Svenja Sinjen, and Nils Wörmer, eds., Russia-China Relations: Emerging Alliance or Eternal Rivals? (New York, NY: Springer, 2022).
Click here to access full-text PDF.

This open access book examines Russia-China relations across a variety of civilian and military areas of cooperation. It provides an up-to-date assessment of strategic cooperation fields between China and Russia; examines the potential […]

17 June 2022

PRC Launches 3rd Carrier “Fujian”—Trace Beijing’s Deck Aviation “Long March” with The China Aircraft Carrier Bookshelf!

Li Weichao, “China Launches Third Aircraft Carrier,” Xinhua, 17 June 2022.

Photo taken on June 17, 2022 shows the launching ceremony of China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, in east China’s Shanghai. The carrier, named after Fujian Province, was completely designed and built by the country. (Xinhua/Li Gang) 
SHANGHAI, June 17 (Xinhua) — China launched its third […]

06 June 2022

Honored to be Quoted! “China Secretly Building PLA Naval Facility in Cambodia, Western Officials Say”

Ellen Nakashima and Cate Cadell, “China Secretly Building PLA Naval Facility in Cambodia, Western Officials Say,” Washington Post, 6 June 2022. 
China is secretly building a naval facility in Cambodia for the exclusive use of its military, with both countries denying that is the case and taking extraordinary measures to conceal the operation, Western officials said.
The military […]

06 June 2022

China’s Energy Nationalism Means Coal Is Sticking Around

Gabriel B. Collins and Andrew S. Erickson, “China’s Energy Nationalism Means Coal Is Sticking Around,” Foreign Policy, 6 June 2022.
Green plans are secondary to political demands.
By Gabriel B. Collins, the Baker Botts fellow in energy and environmental regulatory affairs at Rice University’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, and Andrew S. Erickson, the research director […]