Andrew S. Erickson

From SupChina: “Your brain needs expanding, and you need to buy gifts for your smart friends! We’re here to help with our selection of books recommended by our editors.”
“All the books on our [2017 winter reading] list have been published within the past six months. If you think we’ve left out something important, please let […]

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 […]

Self-Study Syllabus on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (American Mandarin Society, 15 January 2018).
Suggest edits here.
“This syllabus is organized to build understanding of the PLA in a step-by-step fashion based on one hour of reading five nights a week for four weeks. In total, the key readings add up to roughly 800 pages, rarely more than […]

Ronald O’Rourke, Maritime Territorial and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Disputes Involving China: Issues for Congress, R42784 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 12 December 2017).
If you have trouble accessing the website above, please download a cached copy here.
KEY EXCERPTS:
1972 CONVENTION ON PREVENTING COLLISIONS AT SEA (COLREGs)………………………………… 14
p. 14
1972 Convention on Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs)
China and the United States, as […]

Ronald O’Rourke, China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress, RL33153 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 13 December 2017).
If you have trouble accessing the website above, please download a cached copy here.
Summary
The question of how the United States should respond to China’s military modernization effort, including its naval modernization effort, is a key issue in […]

106年國防報告書 [2017 National Defense Report] (台北 [Taipei]: 中華民國國防部 [Republic of China, Ministry of National Defense], December 2017).
Click here to download the full-text Chinese-language version.
The Chinese-language cartoon version (to engage a popular audience) is available here.
Click here to access a complete bilingual set of biannual reports dating back to 1992.
Initial media coverage here and here.
 

序言
中華民國長期以來，是亞太地區維持和平、穩定和繁榮的重要成員。雖然， 我國與周邊國家皆無正式邦交，但我們以友善、誠信、互惠的原則，遂行實質
的交流，來構建一個穩定的安全環境，積極對區域安全、甚至國際社會，提供 […]

Arthur S. Ding; review of Andrew S. Erickson, ed., Chinese Naval Shipbuilding: An Ambitious and Uncertain Course (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2016); The China Journal 79 (January 2018): 195-197.
Chinese Naval Shipbuilding: An Ambitious and Uncertain Course, edited by Andrew S. Erickson. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2016. vii+ 357 pp. US$39.95 (cloth).
In his introduction, Andrew S. […]

National Security Strategy of the United States of America 2017 (Washington, DC: The White House, December 2017).

Click here for Announcement & Summary.

Click here for Talking Points.

Click here for Q&A.

Click here for Fact Sheet.

Click here to download the full text. In case you have any difficulty accessing that version, here’s a cached copy.

OVERVIEW:

A NEW NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY […]

I wish this top-caliber team all possible energy, as they will surely be asked to update this important report constantly in light of new developments!
Kathleen J. McInnis, Andrew Feickert, Mark E. Manyin, Steven A. Hildreth, Mary Beth D. Nikitin, and Emma Chanlett-Avery, The North Korean Nuclear Challenge: Military Options and Issues for Congress R44994 (Washington, […]

Professor Michael Chase, my former Naval War College colleague, has both extensive U.S. government experience and a set of publications that are well worth reading. It has been a great honor and pleasure to collaborate with him on multiple research and writing projects over the past decade. If you are a student at Georgetown or […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “China’s Maritime Ambitions,” in Sumit Ganguly, Andrew Scobell, and Joseph Liow, Routledge Handbook of Asian Security Studies, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2017), 100-114.
Introduction
Maritime forces are on the leading edge of China’s military modernization, both programmatically and geographically. They offer vital tools for to achieve progressively diminishing ripples of control in the Near Seas […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “How Strong Are China’s Armed Forces?” in Jennifer Rudolph and Michael Szonyi, eds., The China Questions: Critical Insights into a Rising Power (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018), 73–80. 

Simplified Chinese translation: 艾立信 [Andrew S. Erickson], “中国的军事力量有多强大?” [How Strong Are China’s Armed Forces?], in 陆德芙 [Jennifer Rudolph] and 宋怡明 [Michael Szonyi], 编 [Editors]; 余江 [Yu Jiang] and 郑言 [Zheng Yan], 译 [Translators]; 中国36问—对一个崛起大国的洞察 [The China Questions: Critical Insights into a Rising […]

Jennifer Rudolph and Michael Szonyi, eds., The China Questions: Critical Insights into a Rising Power (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018).

陆德芙 [Jennifer Rudolph] and 宋怡明 [Michael Szonyi], 编 [Editors]; 余江 [Yu Jiang] and 郑言 [Zheng Yan], 译 [Translators]; 中国36问—对一个崛起大国的洞察 [The China Questions: Critical Insights into a Rising Power] (Cambridge, MA: 哈佛大学费正清中国研究中心 [John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University], 2020).

Simplified Chinese translation of my chapter: 艾立信 [Andrew S. […]

U.S. Naval War College Professor William Murray’s scholarship on the military development and capacities of mainland China and Taiwan is path-breaking, sobering, and thought-provoking. While others have worked hard to address these important issues, Prof. Murray’s scholarship is exemplary in its ability to distill complex and often misunderstood military operational issues to their essential dynamics […]

For over a decade, Naval War College professor and China Maritime Studies Institute director Peter A. Dutton has played a leading role in analyzing and interpreting China’s disputed island and maritime sovereignty claims, efforts to promote them, and broader geostrategic goals and trajectory. He has done so for the scholarly and policy communities, the U.S. […]

2017 Report to Congress of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, One Hundred Fifteenth Congress, First Session, 15 November 2017.
Click here to read the full text.
Report PDFs: 
2017 Annual Report
2017 Executive Summary and Recommendations.pdf
Comprehensive List of the Commission’s Recommendations.pdf
 
Chapters: 
Chapter 1, Section 1 – Year in Review – Economics and Trade.pdf
Chapter 1, Section 2 – Chinese […]

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 […]

Ronald O’Rourke, China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress, RL33153 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 1 November 2017).
If you have trouble accessing the website above, please download a cached copy here.
 
Summary
China since the early to mid-1990s has been steadily building a modern and powerful navy. China’s navy in recent years has emerged as […]

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Read PLA Aerospace Power: A Primer on Trends in China’s Military Air, Space, and Missile Forces.
Access useful research sources & links.
CASI’s Mission
“Everything that Flies”
CASI’s mission is to advance understanding of the capabilities, development, operating concepts, strategy, doctrine, personnel, organization, and limitations of China’s aerospace forces, which include: the PLA Air Force (PLAAF); PLA […]