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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.

02 May 2019

U.S. Department of Defense Annual Reports to Congress on China’s Military Power—2002-19—Download Complete Set + Read Highlights Here

Since I couldn’t find a single-source location on the Internet, and the Pentagon has deactivated some of the previous links, I decided to make my own. Now you can download cached PDFs of all the Department of Defense’s China reports directly by year!
2019
2018 + Accompanying Fact Sheet
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
 
Additionally, here are some highlights from, and analysis of, several of […]

02 May 2019

U.S. Department of Defense Annual Report to Congress—“Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2019”—Click here to read the full-text Report

Click here to read the full text of the 2019 report.
Office of the Secretary of Defense, Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2019 (Arlington, VA: Department of Defense, 2 May 2019).

30 April 2019

Just Published in The Maritime Executive: “Fact Sheet: The People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM)”

Andrew S. Erickson, “Fact Sheet: The People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM),” Editorial, The Maritime Executive, 30 April 2019.
 
Fact Sheet: The People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM)
BY ANDREW S. ERICKSON 2019-04-30
To distill five years of research on China’s maritime militia into actionable policy recommendations, the author offers the following memorandum, which he proposes to be issued with […]

29 April 2019

Fact Sheet: China’s Maritime Militia

Andrew S. Erickson,“Fact Sheet: The People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM),” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 29 April 2019.
 
Fact Sheet: The People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM)
Professor Andrew S. Erickson
29 April 2019
As the National Security Strategy of the United States of America 2017 emphasizes, China is engaged in continuous competition with America—neither fully “at peace” nor “at […]

29 April 2019

China’s South China Sea Strategy Takes a Hit as the US Navy Threatens to Get Tough on Beijing’s Sea Forces

Ryan Pickrell, “China’s South China Sea Strategy Takes a Hit as the US Navy Threatens to Get Tough on Beijing’s Sea Forces,” Business Insider, 29 April 2019.

The US Navy’s top admiral has warned China that the US will treat China’s coast guard and maritime militia the same as the People’s Liberation Army Navy, the Financial […]

29 April 2019

CNO Richardson: U.S. Won’t Treat China’s Coast Guard or Maritime Militia Differently from Navy

Demetri Sevastopulo and Kathrin Hille, “US Warns China on Aggressive Acts by Fishing Boats and Coast Guard,” Financial Times, 28 April 2019.
Navy chief says Washington will use military rules of engagement to curb provocative behaviour
The US has warned China that it will respond to provocative acts by its coast guard and fishing boats […]

11 April 2019

The China Maritime Militia Bookshelf: Complete with Latest Recommendations & Fact Sheet

INFORMATION & ANALYSIS CONCERNING CHINA’S MARITIME MILITIA:

Tracking China’s “Little Blue Men”—A Comprehensive Maritime Militia Compendium
Rarely is a topic so little recognized and so little understood, yet so important and so amenable to research using Chinese-language open sources… To increase awareness and understanding of this important subject, here is a convenient compendium of major publications and […]

10 April 2019

Book Review: China’s Maritime Gray Zone Operations

Review of Andrew S. Erickson and Ryan D. Martinson, China’s Maritime Gray Zone Operations (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2019); Virtual Mirage, 6 April 2019.

… Whenever I review a book or reference a book, the reaction of many readers who don’t share a keen interest in maritime topics or in China’s naval adventures is “should I read this book”? My sense […]

04 April 2019

New BBC Program Interviews Many American & Chinese Specialists: “Analysis: Will China and America Go to War?”

“Analysis: Will China and America Go to War?” BBC, 31 March 2019.
Honored to speak on Chinese naval shipbuilding from 05:48-07:35!
Will the growing competition between China and the United States inevitably lead to military conflict? One leading American academic created huge attention when in 2017 he posed the idea of what he called a “Thucydides […]

02 April 2019

Surging Second Sea Force: China’s Maritime Law-Enforcement Forces, Capabilities, and Future in the Gray Zone and Beyond

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 […]

01 April 2019

Selling a Maritime Air Force: The PLAAF’s Campaign for a Bigger Maritime Role

Ian Burns McCaslin and Andrew S. Erickson, Selling a Maritime Air Force: The PLAAF’s Campaign for a Bigger Maritime Role (Washington, DC: China Aerospace Studies Institute, 1 April 2019).

Inter-service rivalry is an ever-present condition for militaries around the world. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is no exception to this rule. Since the end of 2015, the PLA […]

27 March 2019

Robbin Laird Reviews “China’s Maritime Gray Zone Operations” in Defense Info

Robbin Laird; review of Andrew S. Erickson and Ryan D. Martinson, China’s Maritime Gray Zone Operations (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2019); Defense Info, 26 March 2019.
The book edited by Andrew S. Erickson and Ryan D. Martinson on Chinese maritime operations which they label as operating in the “gray zone” is a first rate piece of work.
The books […]

26 March 2019

Honoring the Many Contributions of Andrew Marshall, An Early Supporter and Sponsor of CMSI

Andrew Marshall was a great visionary who inspired and generously supported the research of many others. This included my own early efforts in Chinese-language open source analysis as a Office of Net Assessment-sponsored research fellow at the Naval War College in 2005-06 while completing my Ph.D. on leave from Princeton; and, more importantly, those of […]

25 March 2019

CMSI Conference 6-7 May 2019: “Going Global? The People’s Navy in a Time of Strategic Transformation”

On behalf of China Maritime Studies Institute Director Dr. Peter Dutton, it is our pleasure to inform you of CMSI’s next annual academic conference. Covering “The People’s Navy in a Time of Strategic Transformation,” it will be held at the Naval War College on Monday May 6 and Tuesday May 7, 2019.
We welcome broad participation […]

22 March 2019

Strategic Strong Points and Chinese Naval Strategy

Conor M. Kennedy, “Strategic Strong Points and Chinese Naval Strategy,” Jamestown China Brief 19.6 (22 March 2019).

Introduction
On August 1, 2017, China opened its first overseas military base, in the East African nation of Djibouti. This was a landmark event that raised a whole host of questions for Indo-Pacific states: Is Djibouti the first of other […]

19 March 2019

In Loving Memory: A Tribute to CMSI Founding Supporter Kyrill Korolenko

Kyrill “Ky” Korolekno completed his extraordinary life on Saturday 16 March 2019 in Newport, Rhode Island. Those who knew him personally lost a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, friend, and colleague. The U.S. Navy lost a national treasure: a widely patented electrical engineer who over a five-decade career was one of its great innovators in undersea […]

15 March 2019

Hot Off the (Naval Institute) Press: “China’s Maritime Gray Zone Operations”

Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I’m excited to share that Naval Institute Press has just released CMSI’s new edited volume, China’s Maritime Gray Zone Operations, today (March 15). It’s the seventh volume in the “Studies in Chinese Maritime Development Series,” of which I’m the series editor. And it’s already shipping from Amazon. Members of the U.S. Naval […]

11 March 2019

Andrew S. Erickson and Ryan D. Martinson Discuss China’s Maritime Gray Zone Operations

Dmitry Filipoff, “Andrew S. Erickson and Ryan D. Martinson Discuss China’s Maritime Gray Zone Operations,” Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC), 11 March 2019.

Republished as “Interview: China’s Maritime ‘Gray Zone’ Operations,” The Maritime Executive, 2019.

On March 15th, the Naval Institute Press will publish China’s Maritime Gray Zone Operations, a volume edited by professors Andrew S. Erickson and Ryan D. Martinson from the Naval War […]

04 March 2019

China’s 2019 Defense Spending to Rise 7.5% to 1.19 Trillion Yuan (~177.61 Billion U.S. Dollars)

It’s official! In 2019 China will raise defense spending by 7.5% to 1.19 trillion yuan (about 177.61 billion U.S. dollars). That’s a large increase off an enormous baseline. The official figures were released today at Beijing’s biggest political meetings of the year—the “Two Sessions,” back-to-back meetings of two major PRC political bodies: the nearly-3,000-delegate National People’s […]