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.
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 […]
Andrew S. Erickson and Gabriel B. Collins, “China Realizes Carrier Dream,” The Diplomat, 10 August 2011.
Following is a guest entry from Gabe Collins and Andrew Erickson, co-founders of China Sign Post.
China’s Navy has finally realized its longtime dream of obtaining an aircraft carrier and putting it to sea. It has been a long road from the […]
Gabriel B. Collins and Andrew S. Erickson, “China’s ‘Starter Carrier’ Goes to Sea,” China SignPost™ (洞察中国) 43 (9 August 2011).
China SignPost™ 洞察中国–“Clear, high-impact China analysis.”©
What’s happening
The long-awaited official announcement has finally been made.
The first confirmations came in Chinese: “China’s aircraft carrier platform is undergoing sea trials today (中国航母平台今日进行出海航行试验). Xinhua News: China’s aircraft carrier platform is undergoing sea trials on […]
http://news.sina.com.cn/o/2011-08-10/064322965657.shtml
中国航母平台今日进行出海航行试验
http://www.sina.com.cn 2011年08月10日06:43 国际在线
新华网快讯：我航母平台8月10日进行出海航行试验。
For an assessment of the larger implications of China’s deck aviation development, see Abraham M. Denmark, Andrew S. Erickson, and Gabriel Collins, “Should We Be Afraid of China’s New Aircraft Carrier? Not yet.,” Foreign Policy, 27 June 2011.
For operational aspects of China’s first carrier-capable aircraft, see Gabe Collins and Andrew Erickson, “Flying Shark” Gaining […]
Gregory R. Copley, “Focus on PLA(N),” Essential Reading: Important New Strategic Literature, Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy 4 (2011): 16.
To US policy analysts who want to move beyond the immediate wars, the focus has to be on the People’s Republic of China (PRC), now unequivocally the “main target” for US strategic preoccupation and study. […]
Ronald O’Rourke, “China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress,” Congressional Research Service, 22 July 2011.
The question of how the United States should respond to China’s military modernization effort, including its naval modernization effort, has emerged as a key issue in U.S. defense planning. Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the […]
Typhoon Muifa (2011), while losing strength, is still generating significant wind gusts and waves. It’s now heading for the Yellow Sea—right where China’s first aircraft carrier, the ex-Varyag, is moored in Dalian.
The PLA Navy undoubtedly wants auspicious conditions, symbolic and substantive, for the launch and sea trials of its first aircraft carrier, and will await […]
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
