Andrew S. Erickson

On the centenary of his birth (18 September 1920), I would like to offer a compilation of background research and personal perspectives on one of the space age’s pioneers, Joseph Gleason Gavin, Jr. His life and career interconnected with a bold new era that saw humans transcend their earthly bounds and set foot on another […]

David R. Stilwell, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, “Advancing U.S. Engagement and Countering China in the Indo-Pacific and Beyond,” Testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,” Washington, DC, 17 September 2020.

Chairman Risch, Ranking Member Menendez, and Members of the Committee:
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before the Committee to […]

Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark T. Esper, Speech at RAND (As Delivered), RAND Corporation, Arlington, VA, 16 September 2020.

Well thank you for that introduction—kind introduction Michael and good morning everyone. It’s great to be here and I also want to thank Dr. Edward Harshberger for moderating today’s discussion. And I really look forward to a […]

China’s Armed Forces: 30 Years of UN Peacekeeping Operations (Beijing: The State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China, September 2020).
Click here to download the full text directly from Xinhua. Or, simply read it below:

Contents
Preface
I. Embarking on Missions for World Peace
II. A Key Force in UNPKOs
III. Implementation of Pledges Announced at the UN […]

Yanzhong Huang, Toxic Politics: China’s Environmental Health Crisis and its Challenge to the Chinese State (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020).
Summary: China’s deepening health crisis reveals the fragility of the party-state and undercuts China’s ability to project influence internationally.
Watch for further information and related events at the Council on Foreign Relations!

Book description
Environmental degradation in China has […]

CHINA’S MARITIME MILITIA: DATA & ANALYSIS

Tracking China’s “Little Blue Men”—A Comprehensive Maritime Militia Compendium
As Coronavirus rages on, fishy things have been happening across the South and East China Seas, home to virtually all of China’s unresolved maritime disputes… Since Beijing remains far from being fully forthcoming and transparent, it is to be hoped that governments whose nations’ ships have […]

“People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia,” Wikipedia, entry as of 13 September 2020.

The People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM) is the government funded maritime militia of China[1]. For reportedly operating in the South China Sea without clear identification, they are sometimes referred to as the “little blue men”, a term coined by Andrew S. Erickson of the Naval War College in reference to Russia’s “little […]

Now in its 114th iteration, not far behind its counterpart on PLA Navy development, this Library of Congress report is indispensable for policy-makers and analysts alike!

Ronald O’Rourke, U.S.-China Strategic Competition in South and East China Seas: Implications for U.S. Interests—Background and Issues for Congress, R42784 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 28 August 2020).
If you have trouble accessing […]

Ronald O’Rourke, U.S. Role in the World: Background & Issues for Congress R44891 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 26 August 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
The U.S. role in the world refers to the overall character, purpose, or […]

Ronald O’Rourke, Renewed Great Power Competition: Implications for Defense—Issues for Congress, R43838 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 25 August 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 […]

Andrew Scobell, Edmund J. Burke, Cortez A. Cooper III, Sale Lilly, Chad J. R. Ohlandt, Eric Warner, and J.D. Williams, China’s Grand Strategy: Trends, Trajectories, and Long-Term Competition (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2020).
Click here to read a press release.

To explore what extended competition between the United States and China might entail out to 2050, the authors identified and characterized China’s grand strategy, […]

A great new contribution from Tim Heath at RAND!
Timothy R. Heath, Winning Friends and Influencing People: Naval Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics, China Maritime Report 8 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, September 2020). 
In recent years, Chinese leaders have called on the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) to carry out tasks related to naval diplomacy beyond […]

Ryan Pickrell, “China is the World’s Biggest Shipbuilder, And its Ability to Rapidly Produce New Warships Would Be a ‘Huge Advantage’ in a Long Fight with the US, Experts Say,” Business Insider, 8 September 2020.
China could build up its fleet or rapidly replace losses in a conflict, much as the US was able to do […]

Honored to contribute to Admiral McDevitt’s landmark book. This must-read volume rightly recognizes China as already having unmatched across-the-board maritime capabilities in 2020, and offers PLA Navy projections to 2035!
Andrew S. Erickson and Conor M. Kennedy, “Appendix II—China’s Maritime Militia: An Important Force Multiplier,” in Michael McDevitt, China as a Twenty-First-Century Naval Power: Theory, Practice, […]

Ronald O’Rourke, China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress, RL33153 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 1 September 2020).
Having 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.

In addition to his continuous incremental improvements, Ronald O’Rourke has revised this latest edition […]

C. Todd Lopez, “China Pursues Own Nuclear Triad, Doubling of Nuclear Capability,” DoD News, 1 September 2020.
Over the next 10 years, it’s expected China will double the number of nuclear warheads it possesses, while embarking on an effort to expand the ways it can deploy its nuclear capability, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China Chad […]

Chad Sbragia, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, “Press Briefing on the 2020 China Military Power Report,” 31 August 2020.

Chad Sbragia, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, Office of the Secretary of Defense
STAFF: Okay, good morning. Thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning […]

Gordon Arthur, “Pentagon Report Warns of PLA’s Meteoric Rise,” Shephard Media, 2 September 2020.

… Andrew Erickson, a professor of strategy at the US Naval War College, offered his reaction. ‘This is the latest and greatest of the Pentagon’s ‘China Military Power’ reports since their inception two decades ago, and quite possibly the longest and most substantive. […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Breaking Down the Pentagon’s 2020 China Military Power Report: A Quest for PLA Parity?” The National Interest, 2 September 2020.
The report puts key concerns front and center: arguably, China’s meteoric military progress in recent years has not simply narrowed the gap in limited niches, but has in fact pursued parity and even […]