Andrew S. Erickson

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 […]

Andrew S. Erickson and Conor M. Kennedy, “Meet the Chinese Maritime Militia Waging a ‘People’s War at Sea’,” China Real Time Report (中国实时报), Wall Street Journal, 31 March 2015.

When the Philippines announced last week that it was restarting construction in disputed areas of the South China Sea in response to China’s own construction binge, it entered […]

Please register via link here to attend this conference. 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 Newport, RI on 19-20 May, is now open.
The annual CMSI Conference […]

Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., “Minefields at Sea: From The Tsars to Putin,” Breaking Defense, 23 March 2015.
This is the first of three stories on the crucial but neglected question of sea mines and how well — or not — the United States manages this very real global threat. Since World War II, mines have sunk or […]

Peter A. Dutton and Andrew S. Erickson, “When Eagle Meets Dragon: Managing Risk in Maritime East Asia,” RealClearDefense, 25 March 2015.
On 19 August 2014 a U.S. Navy (USN) P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft was flying in international airspace above the Chinese exclusive economic zone (EEZ) ~135 miles east of Hainan Island in the South China Sea when […]

Adam P. Liff and Andrew S. Erickson, “Crowding the Waters: The Need for Crisis Management in the East China Sea,” Foreign Affairs, 23 March 2015.
Since September 2012, the waters and airspace surrounding the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea have become increasingly crowded. China is conducting more military and paramilitary operations, and Japan is […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “亚太安全合作新领域: 太空安全与网络安全” [New Areas in Asia-Pacific Security Cooperation: Space Security and Cyber Security], in Zhao Weibin, Li Shuisheng, and Chen Xuehui, chief eds., Asia-Pacific Security: New Issues and New Ideas [亚太地区安全: 新问题与新思路] (Beijing: Military Science Press [军事科学出版社], 2014), 103-04.

As I’ve often said, China is often more transparent in Chinese…
Shannon Tiezzi, “China (Finally) Admits to Hacking,” The Diplomat, 18 March 2015.
An updated military document for the first time admits that the Chinese government sponsors offensive cyber units.
China’s military has finally pulled back the curtain on its cyber strategy, admitting for the first time that […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “China’s Military Modernization: Many Improvements, Three Challenges, and One Opportunity,” in Jacques deLisle and Avery Goldstein, eds., China’s Challenges (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014), 178-203.
China has exploited key technological and military operational trends to address its core security interests relatively efficiently, and with increasing effectiveness, to the potential detriment of the interests of its […]

The U.S. Sea Services’ freshly issued document has the makings of a serious strategy. It provides vital specificity that its predecessor eight years ago lacked, yet does so in a positive way. This is an excellent model for the larger Asia-Pacific Strategy (or perhaps an “Indo-Asia-Pacific Strategy”), that the Nation continues to lack, yet truly […]

Navy Releases Revised Maritime Strategy
Story Number: NNS150313-14Release Date: 3/13/2015 12:05:00 PM
From the Navy Chief of Information Office
WASHINGTON (NNS) — The sea services released a new maritime strategy, March 13, a plan that describes how the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard will design, organize, and employ naval forces in support of national security interests and […]

Click here to watch the event live.
A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower: Forward, Engaged, Ready
Please join us for the launch of “A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower: Forward, Engaged, Ready” on Friday, March 13 and a discussion with Admirals Greenert and Zukunft and General Dunford on how this new strategy will ground how […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Room for Debate: What Sort of Navy America Needs,” RealClearDefense, 10 March 2015.
Touchdown! Retired U.S. Navy officer, consultant, and well-established strategist Bryan McGrath has just tackled and scored a major hit on an article that required refutation to ensure that a major component of U.S. public policy is informed by sound facts […]