Andrew S. Erickson

Like the previous volumes in the National Bureau of Asian Research-Army War College PLA series, this one is worth a close read!
Roy Kamphausen, David Lai, and Travis Tanner, eds., Assessing the People’s Liberation Army in the Hu Jintao Era (Carlisle, PA: Army War College, 2014).
The 2012 PLA (People’s Liberation Army) conference took place at a time when […]

Solid-though-predictable content overall, but a few of the most interesting nuggets excerpted below. Great use of the term “Indo-Asia-Pacific”! This goes well with Admiral Locklear’s description of PACOM’s Area of Responsibility as ranging “from Hollywood to Bollywood.” It’s not as if we need too many more acronyms in the government-security studies lexicon, but I think […]

Henry Sanderson, “China Army Targets Students for Officers to Match Weapons,” Bloomberg News, 24 April 2014.
China’s military has used annual budget increases in excess of 10 percent to buy precision-guided weapons, fighter jets and an aircraft carrier. Now it’s seeking to upgrade its recruits to operate them.
For Wu, a 20-year-old journalism student at a university […]

Ronald O’Rourke, China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 10 April 2014), RL33153.
Summary
China is building a modern and regionally powerful Navy with a modest but growing capability for conducting operations beyond China’s near-seas region. The question of how the United States should respond to China’s military modernization effort, including its […]

Great music video compilation and commentary on China’s emerging deck aviation efforts from my Global Junior Scholars’ Forum on Chinese International Relations (GCIR) colleague Haotian Qi.
***Warning: watching these clips may get some unforgettable images and songs stuck in your head.***
Posted with full credit and permission:

April 23rd is the 65th anniversary of the PLA Navy. AVIC (Aviation […]

Andrew S. Erickson and Austin M. Strange, “Parallel Progress, Positive Potential: Sino-American Cooperation to Further Sea Lane Security in the Gulf of Aden,” China International Strategy Review 2013 (2013): 479–501.
Click here to read the online version.

Anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden represent a successful example of international cooperation to secure sea lines of communication (SLOC), which involves […]

Andrew S. Erickson and Michael S. Chase, “China Goes Ballistic,” The National Interest 131 (May-June 2014): 58-64.
CHINA IS INCREASINGLY A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH, not only economically but also militarily. Its aggressive stance toward some of its neighbors, along with Asia’s growing economic importance and the need to assure U.S. allies that Washington will increase […]

This cogent article by two experienced experts is a must read! It should help inform U.S. Asia-Pacific policy moving forward, and could help inspire the formal Asia-Pacific Strategy that Washington so badly needs. For key policy recommendations, consider especially the following paragraph:
“In Asia, economics and security are inextricably linked, and the United States will not […]

Brilliant piece here by Julian Snelder. Here’s hoping that he’s able to publish more in the future!
Julian Snelder, “Mearsheimer’s Big Question: Can China Rise Peacefully?” The Lowy Interpreter, 15 April 2014.
The University of Chicago’s famed international relations theorist John Mearsheimer has generously updated, and posted free of charge, the epilogue to his legendary realist book The Tragedy […]

Bryan McGrath, “China Thinks ASW,” Information Dissemination, 11 April 2014.
Lyle Goldstein at the China Maritime Studies Institute is a national treasure (along with his colleague, Andrew Erickson), and he has teamed up once again with Shannon Knight from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center to produce a fascinating article in this month’s Proceedings, which is unfortunately behind the […]

Asan China Conference 2014, “Assessing China’s Power”
The Asan Institute for Policy Studies hosted the Asan China Conference 2014 under the theme of “Assessing China’s Power” at 9:30AM on Wednesday, April 2, 2014 at the institute.
The rise of China’s power is a topic of interest throughout the world. Yet, assessing it in a systematic and empirical […]

This provocative piece raises difficult issues that cannot be ignored…
William Kyle, “The US Navy and the Pivot: Less Means Less,” The Diplomat, 31 March 2014.
Five years of Obama administration foreign policy are in the history books as the world continues to move beyond the era of the Global War on Terror. While the jury is […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “Keeping the Near Seas Peaceful: American and Allied Mission, Asia-Pacific Interest,” in Richard Pearson, ed., East China Sea Tensions, Perspectives and Implications (Washington, DC: Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, 2014), 23-30.
By any measure, China’s economy and defense budget are second in size only to those of the United States. China is already a world-class […]

John Kennedy, Director of Education, Naval War College Museum, “Authors Examine China’s Anti-Piracy Efforts,” Newport Navalog 114.9 (7 March 2014), 8.
Professor Andrew Erickson discussed his new book, No Substitute for Experience: Chinese Antipiracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden, on Feb. 27 at the Naval War College Museum’s Eight Bells Lecture Series. Co-written with Austin Strange, the book […]

Michael T. Flynn, Lieutenant General, U.S. Army, Director, Defense Intelligence Agency, “Annual Threat Assessment,” Statement Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, United States Senate, Washington, DC, 11 February 2014.
Here are the China-relevant excerpts from Lt. Gen. Flynn’s recent testimony. I’ve bolded and underlined the ones I believe to be most interesting and important. These include:

details on China’s growing foreign military sales
confirmation that negotiations remain ongoing for Su-35 sale (I think China is especially interested in the Saturn 117S/AL-41F1A […]

“China’s Military Spending: At the Double,” The Economist, 15 March 2014.
China’s fast-growing defence budget worries its neighbours, but not every trend is in its favour …
In one of the biggest military reforms for years, announced in January, China is now attempting to create a Western-style structure of joint command. But that may prove a long […]

“Beijing’s Breakneck Defense Spending Poses a Challenge to the U.S.,” Editorial, Washington Post, 12 March 2014.
CHINA PRESENTS the rest of the world with a puzzle when it announces, each year, another big leap in defense spending. On March 5, it revealed a 12.2 percent increase over last year, to almost $132 billion, the second-largest military budget in the world after […]

Andrew S. Erickson, “No Substitute for Experience: Chinese Anti-Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden,” Eight Bells Book Lecture, Naval War College Museum, Newport, RI, 27 February 2014.
Click here to watch the video on YouTube.
Volume covered in lecture:
Andrew S. Erickson and Austin M. Strange, No Substitute for Experience: Chinese Anti-Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden, […]

Ronald O’Rourke, China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 28 February 2014), RL33153.
Summary
China is building a modern and regionally powerful Navy with a modest but growing capability for conducting operations beyond China’s near-seas region. The question of how the United States should respond to China’s military modernization effort, including its […]