Andrew S. Erickson

See matrix appended below detailing all 46 Task Force deployments to date!

Dennis J. Blasko, “Recent Changes in the PLA Navy’s Gulf of Aden Deployment Pattern,” CMSI Note 8 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 13 August 2024).

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:

The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) may be changing its operational deployment patterns […]

Conor M. Kennedy, Onboard Political Control—The Ship Political Commissar in Chinese Merchant Shipping, China Maritime Report 40 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, August 2024).

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
China Maritime Watchers: The tentacles of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) extend well beyond China’s borders!
If you work within the shipping industry, at ports, […]

Growing Chinese Threat Makes Taiwan World’s Most Dangerous Flashpoint, Defense Analysts Warn
Stronger U.S. deterrence urged; for key ally, ‘situation could scarcely more urgent’
By Bill Gertz – The Washington Times

The growing threat of a Chinese military attack makes Taiwan one of the most dangerous global flash points for years to come, according to a think tank report.
The report details military […]

Tiffany A. Tat, “PLA Navy Reserve: Out of the Shadows and into the Forefront?” CMSI Note 7 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 5 August 2024).

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) Friends and Colleagues –
A few days ago, the PLA celebrated “PLA Day” – a military holiday commemorating the […]

Honored to contribute to Nadège Rolland’s insightful National Bureau of Asian Research Strategic Space series!
Grateful to Andrew Rhodes for permission to use three of his world-class maps! Click here to see his other cartographic creations, as well as his publications. I’ve made a curated compilation of some of his greatest hits here.
What are China’s military […]

Given the consequences for American interests, Taiwan’s fall would be a catastrophic defeat from which America could neither fully retreat nor readily recover. In this new report, we explain the stakes, the urgency, and what to do now. Come for the bulletized Executive Summary, stay for the 168 pages of analysis, including 5 appendices—all backed […]

Daniel Clayton Rice, “Sharpening the Sword: Chinese Navy Aircraft Carrier Battle Group Defense Zones,” CMSI Note 6 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 16 July 2024).

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) Friends and Colleagues –
CMSI is pleased to provide you with CMSI Note #6. This CMSI Note details Chinese Central Television-7 (the CCTV Defense and Military […]

A national treasure here in Newport! For twenty-three years, Dr. Peter Alan Dutton has made superlative leadership, scholarship, teaching, and other academic and policy contributions at the Naval War College.

For over two decades, the NWC professor (2004–) and former China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) director (2011–19) and Interim Dean of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies […]

As we steam past mid-2024, China under Xi is steaming full speed ahead, particularly at sea. Navigate today’s troubled Indo-Pacific waters by consulting the latest version of Modern Chinese Maritime Forces—just released! This most recent iteration of the second edition includes sections for PLA Army (pp. 63–75) and PLA Air Force (pp. 76–78) watercraft; the […]

Legendary China military analyst Ken Allen provided the following written testimony for USCC to accompany the Commission’s release of his coauthored BluePath Labs report, Personnel of the People’s Liberation Army. It is published, with permission, for the first time here. Click here to download a cached PDF.

Kenneth W. Allen
Independent Consultant, China Military Analyst
Written testimony for […]

Conor M. Kennedy, A Hundred Men Wielding One Gun—Life, Duty & Cultural Practices Aboard PLAN Submarines, China Maritime Report 39 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, June 2024).

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) Friends and Colleagues –
This report dives deep into Chinese Navy submarine culture – known as “Dragon Palace Culture.” […]

“U.S. and China: Edging Toward the Brink?”

Panel on Monday, June 24, 2024 (10:20am – 11:50am)

Doerr-Hosier Center, McNulty Room, Aspen Institute, Aspen, Colorado
Click here to watch a webcast of the panel.
Review the Aspen Ideas Festival agenda here.

Niall Ferguson, the celebrated historian who predicted Cold War II in 2018, assembled the sharpest minds from both sides of […]

Wang Kun, Ye Zhong, and Zhou Huaiping, “Charging into Battle—A Deeply Entwined Network: A Profile of Wang Chengfei, Director of a Research Office at the Naval Research Academy,” CMSI Translation 4 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 10 June 2024).

Wang Chengfei, Director of a research office and senior engineer at the Naval […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Tracking China’s ‘Little Blue Men’—A Comprehensive Maritime Militia Compendium,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 10 June 2024.

American and Allied knowledge of the PRC’s Third Sea Force has come a long way since my outstanding Naval War College colleague Professor Conor Kennedy and I began our focused research following his arrival in Newport a […]

I was honored to join Matt Pottinger and some of his contributors to “The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan” at the book’s rollout at Stanford’s Hoover Institution on 30 May 2024. Sponsored by China’s Global Sharp Power Project and Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region, the event was hosted and run by Pottinger and Larry […]

Honored to speak with China Maritime Studies Institute Director Christopher Sharman on CMSI’s history, missions, scholars, and offerings! Podcast hosted by Kristen Taylor, Army War College Public Affairs and Colonel Richard Butler, Director of AWC’s rapidly developing China Landpower Studies Center (CLSC).

“CLSC Dialogues – Ep 7 – Christopher Sharman and Dr. Andrew S. Erickson – […]

It’s been a great pleasure to be part of the wonderful group of experts assembled by Matt Pottinger for this important and timely volume, from whom I’ve learned so much. I look forward to joining everyone for the book’s rollout at the Hoover Institution at Stanford today (Thursday, 30 May) from 4:00 pm – 5:30 […]

James Holmes, “5 Essential Books on Maritime Strategy You Need to Read,” The National Interest, 23 May 2024.

Admiral Lisa Franchetti, America’s chief of naval operations or top uniformed naval officer, recently released her first Navy Professional Reading List. The list is solid on the whole. There are, however, many books one could look at. Here […]

China as a Twenty-First-Century Naval Power (2020)
By Michael McDevitt
Xi Jinping has made his ambitions for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) perfectly clear, there is no mystery what he wants, first, that China should become a “great maritime power” and secondly, that the PLA “become a world-class armed force by 2050.” He wants this latter objective to […]