Andrew S. Erickson

Phillip C. Saunders, Arthur S. Ding, Andrew Scobell, Andrew N.D. Yang, and Joel Wuthnow, eds., Chairman Xi Remakes the PLA: Assessing Chinese Military Reforms (Washington, DC: National Defense University Press, 2018).
Click here to download a PDF copy of the book.
An ePub version is available here.
You can order a complimentary hard copy here.
China’s current military reforms are unprecedented in their ambition and […]

Statement of Admiral Philip S. Davidson, U.S. Navy, Commander, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command before the Senate Armed Services Committee on U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Posture, Hearing on United States Indo-Pacific Command and United States Forces Korea, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC, 12 February 2019.
 p. 5
China: Military Modernization.
Over the last 20 years, Beijing has undertaken a massive […]

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 […]

Challenges to Security in Space (Washington, DC: Defense Intelligence Agency, January 2019).
Click here to download a cached copy.
 p. iii
Executive Summary
Space-based capabilities provide integral support to military, commercial, and civilian applications. Longstanding technological and cost barriers to space are falling, enabling more countries and commercial firms to participate in satellite construction, space launch, space exploration, and human […]

Ronald O’Rourke, Coordinator; Jane A. Leggett; Laura B. Comay; Jonathan L. Ramseur; Peter Folger; Pervaze A. Sheikh; John Frittelli; Harold F. Upton; and Marc Humphries, Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress, R41153 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 7 February 2019).
Click here to download a cached copy.
Of special interest:

pp. 52-74: Arctic geopolitical environment
pp. […]

Ronald O’Rourke, China’s Actions in South and East China Seas: Implications for U.S. Interests—Background and Issues for Congress, R42784 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 31 January 2019).
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.
 
KEY EXCERPTS:
USE OF CHINA COAST GUARD SHIPS […]

The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) held a discussion and luncheon to mark the release of the eighteenth volume in the Strategic Asia series: Strategic Asia 2019: China’s Expanding Strategic Ambitions, edited by Ashley J. Tellis, Alison Szalwinski, and Michael Wills.
This event features remarks by Strategic Asia Program Research Director Ashley J. Tellis as well as two […]

Here I propose a new American vision for U.S.-China relations in this challenging new era: the pursuit of “Competitive Coexistence.” This entails engaging sustained Great Power Competition amid the reality of continued PRC existence. Based on the advice I’ve provided to key American officials over the past several years, my definition of this paradigm contains four pillars: (1) Don’t […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Maritime Numbers Game: Understanding and Responding to China’s Three Sea Forces,” Indo-Pacific Defense Forum Magazine 43.4 (December 2018): 30-35.

Published online by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on 28 January 2019.
Extensive coverage in David Axe, “U.S. Navy Nightmare: The Chinese Fleet Doesn’t Have 300 Ships, It Has 650—You Have to Count the Chinese Coast Guard and […]

The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) invites you to join them for a discussion and luncheon to mark the release of the eighteenth volume in the Strategic Asia series: Strategic Asia 2019: China’s Expanding Strategic Ambitions, edited by Ashley J. Tellis, Alison Szalwinski, and Michael Wills.
This event will feature remarks by Strategic Asia Program Research Director Ashley J. […]

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 […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Power vs. Distance: China’s Global Maritime Interests and Investments in the Far Seas,” in Ashley J. Tellis, Alison Szalwinski, and Michael Wills, eds., Strategic Asia 2019: China’s Expanding Strategic Ambitions (Seattle, WA: National Bureau of Asia Research, 2019), 247-77.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

An examination of China’s maritime power projection along a continuum of national interests and […]

Competing in Space (National Air and Space Intelligence Center/NASIC: Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, December 2018).
Click here to download a cached copy.
 
Key quotes and correlation with other U.S. government statements:
Bill Gertz, “Pentagon: Chinese Military Units Training with ASAT Missiles—China, Russia Militarizing Space to Challenge U.S.,” Washington Free Beacon, 23 January 2019.
 
KEY CHINA-RELATED EXCERPTS FROM REPORT:
 p. 1
After the Cold […]

2019 National Intelligence Strategy (Office of the Director of National Intelligence, McLean, VA: January 2019).
This National Intelligence Strategy (NIS) provides the Intelligence Community (IC) with strategic direction from the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) for the next four years. It supports the national security priorities outlined in the National Security Strategy as well as other […]

AI, China, Russia, and the Global Order: Technological, Political, Global, and Creative Perspectives (Arlington, VA: Department of Defense, December 2018).
Click here to download a cached copy.
Contributors: Ahmed, S. (UC Berkeley); Bajema, N. (NDU); Bendett, S. (CNA); Chang, B. (MIT); Creemers, R. (Leiden University); Demchak, C. (Naval War College); Denton, S. (George Mason University); Ding, J. (Oxford); […]

2019 Missile Defense Review (Arlington, VA: Office of the Secretary of Defense, 17 January 2019).
 Watch President Trump announce the results of the administration’s missile defense review at the Pentagon on 17 January 2019.
Read the Executive Summary here.
Click here to download a cached copy.
 
Breaking analysis:
Thomas Karako, Senior Fellow, International Security Program and Director, Missile Defense Project, […]

Never thought I’d have to help build awareness regarding Coast Guard service members’ irreplaceable work, but here we are…
The Coast Guard is a U.S. Armed Service whose uniformed personnel safeguard America’s long sea border and enormous exclusive economic zone, both of which are among the world’s very greatest.
Coastguardsmen have served in every American military […]

China Military Power: Modernizing a Force to Fight and Win (Washington, DC: Defense Intelligence Agency, 2019).
Click here to download a cached copy.
Watch the accompanying video here.
Defense Intelligence Agency Releases Report on China Military Power
By DIA Public Affairs

Washington, D.C., Jan. 15, 2019 —Washington, D.C. – (January 15, 2019) The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) today released China Military […]

“CNO Visits China, Underscores Importance of Professional Interaction at Sea,” Navy.mil, 15 January 2019.
Story Number: NNS190115-13
Release Date: 1/15/2019 2:46:00 PM
From Chief of Naval Operations Public Affairs
NANJING, China (NNS) — Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. John Richardson visited China and met with senior Chinese defense officials, Jan. 13 to 16, to discuss professional interactions at […]