Andrew S. Erickson

A trenchant analysis of Beijing’s cyber contradiction (矛盾, máodùn).
Amy Chang, “China’s Maodun: A Free Internet Caged by the Chinese Communist Party,” Jamestown China Brief 15.8 (16 April 2015).
China pursues a strategy of aggressive cyberspace management and is in the midst of fostering a military cyber force to further the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) primary interest: […]

Jeremy Page, “China Building Airstrip in Spratly Islands, Satellite Images Show,” Wall Street Journal, 16 April 2015.
Move seen as step in enforcing territorial claims to disputed island group in South China Sea
BEIJING—Fresh satellite imagery released Thursday shows that China has begun building a concrete runway on reclaimed land around a disputed reef in the South […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Revelations on China’s Maritime Modernization: The U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence Offers a Wealth of New Information on the PLA Navy,” The Diplomat, 16 April 2015.
To its first unclassified report on China’s navy in six years, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) has just added sophisticated posters detailing Chinese ships and […]

Just added to ONI’s report on “The PLA Navy: New Capabilities and Missions for the 21st Century”: posters detailing Chinese ships and aircraft, equipment, and leadership structure. Perhaps most exciting, for the first time ever, ONI is making authoritative, carefully-labeled silhouettes and photos of PLAN and maritime law enforcement (MLE) ships and aircraft available publicly, together […]

Bryan McGrath, “How Will China View the New Maritime Strategy,” Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, Center for Strategic and International Studies, 8 April 2015.
The military services responsible for American seapower (Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard) recently released their new maritime strategy, entitled “Forward, Engaged, Ready: A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower.” The reviews thus far have been positive, […]

Bill Gertz, “ONI Reveals Massive Chinese Naval Buildup—New Supersonic Cruise Missile Deployed,” Washington Free Beacon, 10 April 2015.
… The Office of Naval Intelligence, in its first unclassified assessment of the Chinese navy in six years, revealed deployment of the new YJ-18 supersonic anti-ship cruise missile on warships and submarines that analysts say poses a major threat to […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “U.S. Exposes China’s Growing Maritime Power,” The National Interest, 10 April 2015.
Originally published as: Andrew S. Erickson, “Navy Intel Charts Chinese Sea Change: Office of Naval Intelligence Releases First Unclassified PLAN Report in Six Years,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 9 April 2015.
What a difference six years makes! Since the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence […]

Jane Perlez, “China Is Rapidly Adding Coast Guard Ships, U.S. Navy Says,” New York Times, 10 April 2015.
SINGAPORE — China is rapidly building Coast Guard ships, the vessels that China most commonly uses for patrols in the South China Sea, and in the last three years has increased the number of ships in that category 25 percent, […]

Andrew Erickson, “How U.S. Navy Intel Sees China’s Maritime Forces,” War on the Rocks, 10 April 2015.
In its first unclassified report on the subject in six years, the Office of Naval Intelligence depicts a powerful trajectory for China’s maritime forces. Titled “The PLA Navy: New Capabilities and Missions for the 21st Century,” the document and […]

Andrew S. Erickson and Conor M. Kennedy, “China’s Island Builders: The People’s War at Sea,” Foreign Affairs, 9 April 2015.

Recent satellite images show that the Spratly islands, a series of features in the South China Sea, are growing at a staggering pace. Tons of sand, rocks, coral cuttings, and concrete are transforming miniscule Chinese-occupied outcroppings into sizeable islands […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Navy Intel Charts Chinese Sea Change: Office of Naval Intelligence Releases First Unclassified PLAN Report in Six Years,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 9 April 2015.
What a difference six years makes! Since the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) last issued an unclassified report on China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in 2009, […]

Capt. Takuya Shimodaira, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, “Cooperating in the South China Sea,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 141.4 (April 2015).
Humanitarian aid/ disaster relief offers the ideal means for China to work in harmony with fellow Asian nations—and Japan is uniquely suited by hard experience to be a guiding force.
In the last 20 years, the People’s […]

Christopher H. Sharman, China Moves Out: Stepping Stones toward a New Maritime Strategy, China Strategic Perspectives 9 (Washington, DC: National Defense University, April 2015).
Commander Christopher Sharman, a Navy officer and National War College student, has just published a new NDU China Strategic Perspectives monograph, “China Moves Out: Stepping Stones toward a New Maritime Strategy.” Based on detailed analysis of 11 […]

UPDATE: Click here to download final conference agenda.
U.S. citizen guests, please register via link here to attend this conference. Kindly note: international attendance is by invitation only.
Dear Prospective Attendees,
We are pleased to announce that registration for the 2015 Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) conference “China’s Naval Shipbuilding: Progress and Challenges,” to be held in […]

Shannon Tiezzi, “Chinese Nationals Evacuate Yemen on PLA Navy Frigate,” The Diplomat, 30 March 2015.
Amid increasing violence, China pulls over 500 citizens out of Yemen.
As the violence in Yemen worsens, with Saudi Arabia leading air strikes against Houthi forces, China has joined a number of countries in evacuating personnel from the country. China sent a […]

Jeremy Page, “As China Expands Its Navy, the U.S. Grows Wary,” Wall Street Journal, 30 March 2015.
Washington is divided over whether Beijing should be viewed as naval partner or potential adversary
China’s navy chief, Adm. Wu Shengli, strolled the Harvard University campus in a tweed blazer and slacks during a visit to the U.S. last fall, […]

Want to understand China’s Coast Guard? Given its emergence as China’s Second Navy in the Near Seas—and the world’s largest blue-water coast guard fleet—you should. And there’s simply no better published source of understanding in English today than Ryan Martinson’s recent series of articles on the subject. Here’s the latest and greatest—a pithy, powerful piece […]

By any measure, Chinese ‘commander in chief of everything’ Xi Jinping is one of the most powerful and consequential people on the planet. Less theatrical and publicly-exposed than Vladimir Putin, he exercises even more far-reaching control of an even more powerful country. Yet little is known outside China about Xi, particularly concerning the formative experiences, personality, […]

Worthwhile analysis on a timely topic! The Asia-Pacific is a technology-intensive theater, making it all the more vital to understand key technological dynamics therein.
Amy Chang, Ben FitzGerald, and Van Jackson, Shades of Gray: Technology, Strategic Competition, and Stability in Maritime Asia (Washington, DC: Center for a New American Security, 30 March 2015).
In this seventh paper […]