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.
William Choong, “Reasons to Fear China’s Aircraft Carrier,” Straits Times, 19 August 2011.
Last week, China said it had deployed its first aircraft carrier for an inaugural sea trial. Speaking at a Chinese Defence Ministry briefing last month, Colonel Geng Yansheng stressed that the carrier would be used for “research, experiment and training” and would not […]
David Axe, “China, the US and Transparency,” The Diplomat, 22 August 2011.
Lately, every major Chinese military development has provoked the same response from the US government. The American reaction to the appearance of new aircraft, ships and missiles is to ask, essentially, ‘What’s it for?’ …
But this lack of transparency can cut both ways, according […]
Gabriel B. Collins and Andrew S. Erickson, “Tango for Trade, Samba for Sales: Strategic Implications of China’s Growing Investment and Commercial Ties in Latin America,” China SignPost™ (洞察中国) 45 (19 August 2011).
China SignPost™ 洞察中国–“Clear, high-impact China analysis.”©
Executive Summary
China’s annual trade with Latin American countries is now worth at least US$118 billion per year, nearly 12 times larger than what […]
Feng, “Review of Chinese Aerospace Power: Evolving Maritime Roles,” Information Dissemination, 16 August 2011.
I recently had a chance to read “Chinese Aerospace Power: Evolving Maritime Roles.” This book is the fifth installment in the series “Studies in Chinese Maritime Development” and can be found here on Amazon.
In the past, I have found works by Andrew […]
Gabriel B. Collins and Andrew S. Erickson, “China’s S-Curve Trajectory: Structural Factors Will Likely Slow the Growth of China’s Economy and Comprehensive National Power,” China SignPost™ (洞察中国) 44 (15 August 2011).
China SignPost™ 洞察中国–“Clear, high-impact China analysis.”©
Key Points:
China is likely to follow an S-Curve-shaped path of slowing growth as key internal and external challenges—including pollution, corruption, chronic diseases, water shortages, […]
Dave Mugridge, review of Andrew S. Erickson, Lyle J. Goldstein, and Carnes Lord, eds., China Goes to Sea: Maritime Transformation in Comparative Historical Perspective (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, July 2009) in Canadian Naval Review, 7.2 (Summer 2011): 42-43.
This book is a wonderful academic review not just of China’s maritime power but of the history […]
Michael Wines, “China Begins Sea Trials of Its First Aircraft Carrier,” New York Times, 10 August 2011.
BEIJING — China’s first aircraft carrier began sea trials on Wednesday, the state-run Xinhua news service reported, a highly symbolic step in what is certain to be an effort of many years to create a carrier presence in the […]
Bradley Perrett, “What Carrier Means In China Military Plans,” Aviation Week, 12 August 2011.
The Chinese military is either confident that it can already win a battle in the Taiwan Strait, or it is confident that it can keep winning the budget battles back in Beijing. … while the armed forces reckon much more military power […]
Andrew Forbes, “China and Sea Power in the Twenty-First Century,” International Journal of Maritime History 23.1 (June 2011): 341-46.
Review of 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).
The “rise” of China has been […]
Aaron L. Friedberg, A Contest for Supremacy: China, America, and the Struggle for Mastery in Asia (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011).
An explosive examination of the fast-escalating Sino-American struggle for geopolitical predominance.
There may be no denying China’s growing economic strength, but its impact on the global balance of power remains hotly contested. Political […]
Trefor Moss, “Decoding China’s Aircraft Carrier,” The Diplomat, 13 August 2011.
… The first aircraft carrier in People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN’s) history, which began sea trials earlier this week and churned up no shortage of media conjecture as it got underway, has to be understood on two different levels: the symbolic and the purposive.
Symbolically, the […]
Chris Buckley, “China Launches First Aircraft Carrier on Maiden Sea Trial,” Reuters, 10 August 2011.
China launched its first aircraft carrier for a maiden run on Wednesday, a step likely to boost patriotic pride at home and jitters abroad about Beijing’s naval ambitions. …
Retired Chinese navy Rear Admiral Yin Zhuo told state-run television that his country […]
Tania Branigan and Jason Burke, “China’s First Aircraft Carrier Launches with Pride Amid Regional Tensions,” The Guardian, 10 August 2011.
China’s first aircraft carrier has embarked on sea trials, in a potent demonstration of the growing naval power that is creating pride at home – and concern elsewhere in the region.
While China says it will only […]
Kathrin Hille, “China’s First Aircraft Carrier Takes to Sea,” Financial Times, 10 August 2011.
China has sent its first aircraft carrier to sea in a sign of the country’s burgeoning naval power.
The defence ministry said the Varyag, which the People’s Liberation Army purchased as an unfinished hull from Ukraine in 1998, started its first sea trial […]
Galrahn, “Ex-Varyag Begins Sea Trials,” Information Dissemination, 10 August 2011.
Early this morning the Ex-Varyag was assisted by several tug boats as the ship ventured out on sea trials. …
Today China has taken the next step in what is a very long road towards the operation of an aircraft carrier. This specific step is both strategic […]
“China’s Carrier Sails into New Era,” Xinhua, 11 August 2011.
The maiden voyage had long been expected. Preparations for the trial were visible from many points around Dalian and had been regularly photographed and documented online by military enthusiasts.
China officially acknowledged the refurbishing project of the aircraft carrier only last month, saying the vessel will be […]
Bradley Perrett and Chris Buckley, “China Begins Carrier Sea Trials, But Has Far To Go,” Aviation Week, 10 August 2011.
China has joined the aircraft carrier club, with the ex-Soviet ship Varyag beginning its sea trials Aug. 10.
The long-awaited debut of the vessel marks a step forward in China’s long-term plan to build a carrier force […]
Austin Ramzy, “Troubled Waters: Why China’s Navy Makes Asia Nervous,” Time, 11 August 2011.
The last time the aircraft carrier once known as the Varyag generated this much concern, it was for fear it might sink. The ship was one of the Soviet Union’s last naval commissions, but construction at the Black Sea shipyard of Mykolaiv […]
Jeremy Page, “China Flexes Naval Muscle,” Wall Street Journal, 11 August 2011.
China sent its first aircraft carrier to sea, a defining moment in its effort to become a top-tier naval power that seeks to challenge U.S. military supremacy in Asia and protect Chinese economic interests that now span the globe.
The carrier, based on an empty […]
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
