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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.

09 December 2020

The Ryan Martinson Bookshelf: Must-Read Revelations re China’s Maritime Policies, Sea Forces & Oceanic Operations

For analysis of Chinese maritime policy and China Coast Guard development, it simply doesn’t get any better than this. Enjoy this fully updated one-stop library of my colleague Ryan Martinson’s work. It’s well worth reading all of these superb publications and interviews, even as they exceed three dozen in number!
Andrew S. Erickson, “The Ryan Martinson […]

08 December 2020

“Renewed Great Power Competition”—New Edition of Timely CRS Report

Ronald O’Rourke, Renewed Great Power Competition: Implications for Defense—Issues for Congress, R43838 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 3 December 2020).
If you have trouble accessing the website above, please download a cached copy here.
You can also click here to access the report via the new public CRS website.

Summary
Many observers have concluded that the post-Cold War era of international relations—which […]

06 December 2020

Chinese Arms Industry Ranks Second Behind U.S., Report Says

Brett Forrest, “Chinese Arms Industry Ranks Second Behind U.S., Report Says,” Wall Street Journal, 6 December 2020.
The country’s global sales are larger than those of Russia and European nations

China has boasted the world’s second-largest arms-manufacturing industry for the past five years, ranking behind the U.S. in sales but outstripping Russia and the top European nations, […]

05 December 2020

Beyond Energy Focus? China’s Middle Eastern Interests, Activities & Outlook

Andrew S. Erickson, “Beyond Energy Focus? China’s Middle Eastern Interests, Activities & Outlook,” presented via Zoom at “The Gulf States: From Periphery to Center,” International Symposium sponsored by the Ezri Center for Iran & Gulf States Research and Haifa Maritime Center, University of Haifa, Israel, 3 December 2020. 
Click here to watch video via Facebook.

17:00 Introduction […]

02 December 2020

New Rice University Baker Institute Podcast: “Holding the Line Against China”

Gabriel B. Collins and Andrew S. Erickson, “Holding the Line Against China,” Policy Matters podcast, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, Houston, TX, 2 December 2020.
Click here to listen to the ~17 minute podcast.
Managing its relationship with China is surely the most acute geopolitical challenge facing the United States today. How should we assess the Chinese threat […]

01 December 2020

U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission (USCC) Issues 2020 Report

2020 Report to Congress of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, Second Session, 1 December 2020.
Topics addressed in this year’s USCC annual report include China’s view of strategic competition with the United States; China’s promotion of alternative global norms and standards; China’s strategic aims in Africa; vulnerabilities in China’s financial system […]

27 November 2020

Watch SOAS Seminar: “China as a Rising Military Power: Developments, Dynamics, Downsides & Dangers”

Andrew S. Erickson, “China as a Rising Military Power: Developments, Dynamics, Downsides, and Dangers,” School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) China Institute Seminar, University of London, UK, Webinar via Zoom, 30 November 2020.

Click here to watch on YouTube.
Presenter: Professor Andrew S. Erickson (U.S. Naval War College; Visiting Scholar, Harvard Fairbank Center)
Date: 30 November 2020 Time: […]

26 November 2020

The Ian Chong Bookshelf: Rigorous Scholarship, Sino-Asian Revelations, Real-World Relevance

Thanksgiving Day is a time for reflection and appreciation. Among my many blessings, it has been my good fortune to have enjoyed such a wonderful time in Princeton’s Politics Ph.D. program. My classmates there included Ian Chong, whom I’ve subsequently met up at with conferences across the United States and Asia. We’ve also overlapped as […]

23 November 2020

Historian, Strategist, Reservist, Think-Tanker: Interdisciplinary Revelations from The Charles Edel Bookshelf

Historian, professor, policy expert, think tanker, naval reservist… my former Naval War College colleague Dr. Charles Edel has compiled an impressive range of professional experiences and has far-reaching insights to show for it. Charlie has policy experience, academic training, and wide-ranging experience in and knowledge of the Indo-Pacific region. He has worked on, written about, […]

21 November 2020

The Oriana Skylar Mastro Bookshelf: Scholar-Servicemember Insights into Leading Chinese & Indo-Pacific Security Issues

Dr. Oriana Skylar Mastro is a Center Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). Within FSI, she works primarily in the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) and the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) as well. She is also a fellow in Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise […]

18 November 2020

The Elements of the China Challenge

The Policy Planning Staff, The Elements of the China Challenge (Washington, DC: Office of the Secretary of State, November 2020).
Click here to download a cached copy.
Executive Summary
Awareness has been growing in the United States — and in nations around the world — that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has triggered a new era of great-power competition. […]

17 November 2020

The China Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM) Bookshelf

Andrew S. Erickson, “The China Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM) Bookshelf,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国,
17 November 2020.
“Warning to the United States!” In August 2020, China ‘went ballistic’—firing DF-26B and DF-21D “aircraft carrier killer” anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs) into the South China Sea. PRC sources just confirmed that the missiles struck a moving target. Time […]

15 November 2020

China’s DF-21D And DF-26B ASBMs: Is The U.S. Military Ready?

Andrew S. Erickson, interviewed by Harry J. Kazianis, “China’s DF-21D And DF-26B ASBMs: Is The U.S. Military Ready?” 19FortyFive, 15 November 2020.
… … … With its continued development of ASBMs and associated targeting architecture, China continues to work on changing the game in the South China Sea and beyond—but so too does the United States with its own […]

15 November 2020

U.S.-China Military-to-Military Relations: Policy Considerations in a Changing Environment

Andrew S. Erickson, “U.S.-China Military-to-Military Relations: Policy Considerations in a Changing Environment,” in Roy Kamphausen, David Lai, and Tiffany Ma, eds., Securing the China Dream: The PLA’s Role in a Time of Reform and Change (Seattle, WA: National Bureau of Asian Research, 2020), 113–33. 
Click here to download full-text PDF of volume.

The U.S. government’s executive and […]

12 November 2020

Hold The Line through 2035: A Strategy to Offset China’s Revisionist Actions and Sustain a Rules-Based Order in the Asia-Pacific

Gabriel B. Collins and Andrew S. Erickson, Hold The Line through 2035: A Strategy to Offset China’s Revisionist Actions and Sustain a Rules-Based Order in the Asia-Pacific (Houston, TX: Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, 12 November 2020).
The authors offer strategies to counter an increasingly aggressive China and to position the Indo-Asia-Pacific for continued prosperity […]

09 November 2020

The Michael Chase Bookshelf: Policy-Relevant Research on China’s Military Development, Deterrence & Cross-Strait Security

Professor Michael Chase, my former Naval War College colleague, has both extensive U.S. government experience and a set of publications that are must-reads for scholars, policy-makers, and all others following PRC military progress and power. It has been a great honor and pleasure to collaborate with Dr. Chase on multiple research and writing projects over […]

09 November 2020

The Ryan Martinson Bookshelf: Must-Read Revelations re China’s Maritime Policies, Sea Forces & Oceanic Operations

For analysis of Chinese maritime policy and China Coast Guard development, it simply doesn’t get any better than this. Enjoy this fully updated one-stop library of my colleague Ryan Martinson’s work. It’s well worth reading all of these superb publications and interviews, even as they exceed three dozen in number!
Andrew S. Erickson, “The Ryan Martinson […]

06 November 2020

New CRS Report with China Content: “Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress”

Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress R41153 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 4 November 2020).
Click here to download a cached copy. 

KEY CHINA-RELATED TEXT:
p. 29
China in the Arctic
China’s Growing Activities in the Arctic
China’s diplomatic, economic, and scientific activities in the Arctic have grown steadily in recent years, and have emerged as a […]

03 November 2020

CMSI China Maritime Report #10: “PLAN Force Structure Projection Concept: A Methodology for Looking Down Range”

Capt. Christopher P. Carlson, USNR (Ret.), PLAN Force Structure Projection Concept: A Methodology for Looking Down Range, China Maritime Report 10 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, November 2020).
Force structure projections of an adversary’s potential order of battle are an essential input into the strategic planning process. Currently, the majority of […]