China's rapid development is reshaping the world in all dimensions. Chinese language open sources offer insights into these critical trends. While such materials are increasing constantly in number, diversity, and sophistication, only a fraction is available in English. The analyses available here, many based on sources not previously considered outside China, are designed to help bridge that gap--and thereby increase understanding of the most dynamic great power in the international system today.
Conrad Waters, Review of Four Naval Institute Press Books, “Naval Books of the Year,” Warship 2012: 190-91.
One notable side effect of the steady rise in the power and importance of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has been the significant growth in the number of books devoted to its analysis. Nowhere is this trend more […]
Bruce Swanson with Vance Morrison, Don H. McDowell, and Nancy Tomasko, A Plain Sailorman in China: The Life of and Times of Cdr. I.V. Gillis, USN, 1875-1948 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2012).
Publisher’s Description:
This biography recounts the extraordinary life of I. V. Gillis, both as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1894 to 1919 […]
Andrew S. Erickson and Lyle J. Goldstein, eds., Chinese Aerospace Power: Evolving Maritime Roles (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2011).
Andrew S. Erickson, Lyle J. Goldstein, and Nan Li, eds., China, the United States, and 21st Century Sea Power: Defining a Maritime Security Partnership (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2010).
Andrew S. Erickson, Lyle J. Goldstein, and Carnes Lord, eds., China Goes to Sea: […]
Craig Covault, “Chinese Crew Works in Tiangong after 1st Manned Shenzhou Docking,” AmericaSpace, 19 June 2012.
The three Chinese Shenzhou 9 astronauts are transferring about 660 lb. of supplies , about 60 “man-days” worth, to the Tiangong (TG-1) outpost for use during their nearly two week stay. Part of that cargo will also help support the […]
Evan Osnos, “China’s Rendezvous in Space,” Letter from China, The New Yorker, 18 June 2012.
Chinese astronauts, back in space for the first time in four years, have achieved China’s first manned docking with a space lab in orbit, a coupling infused with such emotion and expectation that it sounded, from the language on television, positively […]
An inspiring achievement!
People’s Liberation Army (PLA) pilot Liu Yang, with colleagues Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang, was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 10:37:24 UTC on 16 June 2012 by a Long March 2F “carrier rocket” on the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, which will dock with China’s Tiangong-1 (天宫一号) space laboratory module. The module will […]
David Axe, “Video: Secret Space Plane Shatters Orbital Record as Chinese Rival Looms,” Danger Room, Wired.com, 16 June 2012.
The second copy of the Air Force’s X-37B robotic space plane landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California early Saturday morning, ending a record-breaking 469-day orbital mission that began atop an Atlas rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, […]
Galrahn offers feedback and discussion after the four presenters each week have had their pieces posted. Today’s post marks the conclusion of the second week, and we can look forward to two more weeks. It’s a real treat to have an entire June’s worth of thought and discussion on seapower.
Click here for more information on […]
Andrew S. Erickson, “Are China’s Near Seas ‘Anti-Navy’ Capabilities Aimed Directly at the United States?” Information Dissemination, 14 June 2012.
Yes, but it’s more complicated than that. In the military realm, Washington and Beijing face a situation that is complex both in concept and in policy implications. In contrast to its mostly-settled land borders, China’s island […]
James Fallows, China Airborne (New York: Pantheon Books, 2012).
Click here for Fallows’s Wikipedia page.
Aeroengine details on pp. 166-67:
The requirements for military and civilian jet engines are somewhat different, but if anything, China’s engine development for airliners lags behind what its military is trying to do. In September, 2011, Gabe Collins and Andrew Erickson of China SignPost […]
Henry Philippens, “The Shi Lang, A Vehicle for Regional Change?” Defense & Security Analysis, 28.2 (2012): 176-84.
In a succession of disclosures over the summer of 2011, the People’s Republic of China acknowledged the near completion of its first aircraft carrier and the initiation of a carrier building program. These revelations have come at a time […]
Taylor Marvin, “PRC Area-Denial Capabilities and American Power Projection, Part 2,” Prospect Blog, 12 June 2012.
Anti-access/area-denial capabilities are the core strategic challenge facing the United States. Proliferating weapons technologies have democratized lethal force, giving unsophisticated opponents the ability to deny superior opponents the ability to project power. The Pentagon’s challenge is to overcome anti-access/area-denial systems […]
Taylor Marvin, “PRC Area-Denial Capabilities and American Power Projection, Part 1,” Prospect Blog, 8 June 2012.
China’s development of powerful asymmetric capabilities is the greatest challenge to US power projection since the Second World War. Continued advances in anti-access/area-denial weapons and strategies are likely to shift the most important determinant of military victory from force superiority […]
Andrew S. Erickson, “Microsatellites: A Bellwether of Chinese Aerospace Progress?” in Lisa Parks and James Schwoch, eds., Down to Earth: Satellite Technologies, Industries, and Cultures (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2012), 254-79.
Central to China’s rise in space–no less important than its becoming the third nation to test an anti-satellite weapon (on January 11, 2007) […]
Gabriel B. Collins and Andrew S. Erickson, “Like it or Not: State Oil Company Becomes ‘Flag’ in South China Sea,” China Real Time Report (中国事实报), Wall Street Journal, 7 June 2012.
Update: “Long Tao” is apparently a pseudonym, most likely for Dai Xu. Dai is a People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) colonel (not a senior colonel) […]
Joan Johnson-Freese, “Space Code Key to Protecting U.S. Space Interests,” World Politics Review, 4 June 2012.
… As far back as 1998, I wrote a book titled, “The Chinese Space Program: A Mystery Within a Maze.” The title referred to the difficulty in deciphering the intentions of a dual-use technology program shrouded in opaque decision-making processes […]
Another great primer by Owen Coté on the latest trends in undersea warfare and the physics behind them.
Owen R. Cote Jr., MIT Security Studies Program, “How Will New Submarine Sensors and Payloads Influence Naval Warfare in the 21st Century?” Information Dissemination, 4 June 2012.
Since the beginning of the 20st century, a series of new submarine […]
Information Dissemination Marks 5th Anniversary with “Virtual Conference: Celebrating Seapower Online”
…To celebrate five years of online discussion related to Maritime Strategy and Strategic Communications, for the month of June Information Dissemination will be hosting a Virtual Conference sponsored by the United States Naval Institute. Sixteen leading voices in the maritime discussion with careers in the […]
Gabe Collins offers his personal perspective concerning the latest annual Pentagon report on China’s military.
Gabe Collins, “12 Things Missing from China Report,” The Diplomat, 1 June 2012.
The latest version of the Pentagon’s report on China’s military rise was disappointing. There’s plenty that has been missed out.
The progressive neutering of the annual Pentagon China military power […]
Chinese Undersea Warfare: Development, Capabilities, Trends
Maritime Gray Zone Operations: Challenges and Countermeasures in the Indo-Pacific
Oxford Bibliography: “The People’s Liberation Army (PLA)”
China’s Climate Cooperation Smokescreen: A Roadmap for Seeing Through the Trap and Countering with Competition
Large-Scale Amphibious Warfare in Chinese Military Strategy
Rebalancing U.S. Forces: Basing and Forward Presence in the Asia-Pacific
China’s Near Seas Combat Capabilities
Chinese Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM) Development: Drivers, Trajectories and Strategic Implications
Asia’s Rising Energy and Resource Nationalism: Implications for the United States, China, and the Asia-Pacific Region
Chinese Aerospace Power: Evolving Maritime Roles
China’s S-Curve Trajectory: Structural Factors Will Likely Slow the Growth of China’s Economy and Comprehensive National Power
China, the United States, and 21st-Century Sea Power: Defining a Maritime Security Partnership
China Goes to Sea: Maritime Transformation in Comparative Historical Perspective
China’s Energy Strategy: The Impact on Bejing’s Maritime Policies
China’s Future Nuclear Submarine Force
Chinese Mine Warfare: A PLA Navy 'Assassin’s Mace' Capability
China’s Nuclear Force Modernization
