Andrew S. Erickson

John Sudworth, “South China Sea: The Mystery of Missing Books and Maritime Claims,” BBC News, 19 June 2016.
If you want to understand the way China really feels about its controversial claim to huge swathes of the sea off its southern shore, then the island of Hainan is a good place to start.
This is a place […]

Chinese officials are insulting foreign intelligence, likely in all senses of the word.
Xi Jinping’s visit in 2013 to Tanmen Township, and the designation of its Maritime Militia as a national model, has made this the leading unit for other seaports to emulate. Yet earlier this month, as the Al Jazeera article below documents, a local […]

Thomas Storch, “Putting ‘Meat on the Bones’ of the U.S.-Japan Alliance Coordination Mechanism,” Sasakawa USA Forum, Issue 2, 1 June 2016.
U.S.-Japan alliance coordination has historically been hindered by structural challenges, such as the lack of a mutual defense pact or a joint operational command structure, as exist in both the U.S.-South Korea alliance and the […]

Ronald O’Rourke, China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 31 May 2016), RL33153.
Summary
China is building a modern and regionally powerful navy with a limited but growing capability for conducting operations beyond China’s near-seas region. Observers of Chinese and U.S. military forces view China’s improving naval capabilities as posing a potential […]

A handy guide with useful analysis on a vital and timely subject!
Lauren Dickey, “Team Tsai Ing-wen: a Who’s Who of the New Cabinet,” Jamestown Foundation China Brief 16.9, 1 June 2016.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen took office on May 20 with no shortage of challenges ahead. Her inaugural speech focused on five specific areas: transforming economic […]

Ryan D. Martinson, “The Courage to Fight and Win: The PLA Cultivates Xuexing for the Wars of the Future,” Jamestown Foundation China Brief 16.9, 1 June 2016.
With all its new weapons systems and platforms, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has become a powerful military by any standard that can be quantified. But how will PLA […]

Unquestionably a must-read article by a leading expert on a vital topic! Cogent, pithy, informative, and insightful.
Capt. Dale C. Rielage, USN, “Chinese Navy Trains and Takes Risks,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 142.5 (May 2016): 36-41.
Improvements in Chinese Navy multi-mission platforms have seen a focus on realistic training.
In the past decade, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army […]

Be sure to read in full this superb, path-breaking article by my CMSI colleague Ryan Martinson. For analysis of Chinese maritime policy and China Coast Guard development, it simply doesn’t get any better than this!
Ryan D. Martinson, “Shepherds of the South Seas,” Survival 58.3 (2016): 187-212.

Abstract

The huhang in strategic context
Huhang operations: backstop of economic…
The […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Doctrinal Sea Change, Making Real Waves: Examining the Naval Dimension of Strategy,” in Joe McReynolds, ed., China’s Evolving Military Strategy (Washington, DC: Jamestown Foundation, 2016), 99-132.
PART 1           PART 2           PREFACE & VOLUME INFORMATION

Available through Brookings Institution Press.
Reprinted as “新たな波紋を広げている海洋変革ドクトリン ――中国の海洋戦略に関する検証” [Doctrinal Sea Change, Making Real Waves: Examining the Naval […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Steaming Ahead, Course Uncertain: China’s Military Shipbuilding Industry,” The National Interest, 19 May 2016.
“In recent years, China’s navy has been launching new ships like dumping dumplings [into soup broth].” This phrase has circulated widely via Chinese media sources and websites. Accompanying it are ever-more-impressive analyses and photographs, most recently of China’s first indigenous […]

From Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS, 防衛研究所), a worthy complement to the U.S. Department of Defense’s annual report to Congress on Chinese military and security issues!
Click here for the full text of the 2016 report.
The international community keeps a close watch on China’s security policy and its military trends. The Japanese public has […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “How Good Are They? The Latest Insights Into China’s Military Tech,” War on the Rocks, 18 May 2016.
It’s that time of year again, and the end of an era. On Friday, the Obama Administration released the last annual Pentagon China report under its watch. Working the China military observers’ graveyard shift this […]

Conor M. Kennedy and Andrew S. Erickson, “From Frontier to Frontline: Tanmen Maritime Militia’s Leading Role—Part 2,” Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC), 17 May 2016.
Tanmen Militia’s Leading Role in the 2014 Haiyang Shiyou (HYSY)-981 Oil Rig Standoff, Spratly Features Construction, and Beyond

Our series on the leading maritime militias of Hainan Province continues with this second installment […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Pentagon Report Aims to Lay Out Chinese Military Goals,” China Real Time Report (中国实时报), Wall Street Journal, 15 May 2016.
With things heating up in the South China Sea and across the Taiwan Strait, Washington just attempted to shine some badly needed light on Beijing’s military efforts.
On Friday, the Pentagon released its 15th annual […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “The Pentagon’s 2016 China Military Report: What You Need to Know,” The National Interest, 14 May 2016.

Friday’s Department of Defense (DoD) report to Congress on Chinese military and security developments is the last issued under the Obama Administration. Amid geopolitical uncertainty, it was a respectable final contribution. Nevertheless, it suffers from an unfortunate shortcoming. […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Obama Pentagon’s Last China Report: Covers Most Bases Commendably, But Misses Maritime Militia,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 14 May 2016.
The end of an era… Friday’s Department of Defense (DoD) report to Congress on Chinese military and security developments is the last issued under the Obama Administration. Amid geopolitical uncertainty, it was a respectable […]

A hefty report at 145 pages! Highly informative, well worth a read. It documents a rapidly developing Chinese military and paramilitary, inspired by a far-reaching “China Dream,” in the throes of ambitious reforms.
Major missed opportunity: no mention of Maritime Militia whatsoever. On that vital topic, you’re still stuck with this next-best analysis.
Key Quotations from text […]

Click here to read the full text of the 2016 report.

Click here to watch the live webcast.