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Andrew S. Erickson 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.

17 June 2024

Honored to Speak at 20th Aspen Ideas Festival!

“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 for the Aspen Ideas Festival agenda.

Register to attend here.

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

10 June 2024

CMSI Translation #4: “Charging into Battle—A Deeply Entwined Network: A Profile of Wang Chengfei, Director of a Research Office at the Naval Research Academy”

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 […]

10 June 2024

The China Maritime Militia Bookshelf: Latest Wikipedia Entries, U.S. Gov’t Docs, SECNAV Guidance, Official Video—& More!

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 […]

08 June 2024

Watch “The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan” rollout at Stanford’s Hoover Institution

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 […]

31 May 2024

CLSC Dialogues – Ep 7 – Christopher Sharman and Dr. Andrew S. Erickson – China Center Director Series – China Maritime Studies Institute

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). Click here to listen!

CARLISLE BARRACKS, PA, UNITED STATES
05.30.2024
Audio by Kristen Taylor
U.S. Army War […]

30 May 2024

Today at 4–5:30 pm PT (7–8:30 pm ET)! “The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan” rollout at Stanford’s Hoover Institution

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 […]

23 May 2024

“China’s Maritime Gray Zone Operations” Reviewed by Dr. James Holmes in The National Interest

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 […]

23 May 2024

New CNO Reading List Includes “China as a 21st-Century Naval Power”

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 […]

21 May 2024

Taiwan: The Stakes

Honored to contribute Chapter 2 with Gabe Collins and Matt Pottinger to Matt’s timely, impactful edited volume!
Gabriel B. Collins, Andrew S. Erickson, and Matt Pottinger, “Taiwan: The Stakes,” in Matt Pottinger, ed., The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Hoover Institution Press, 2024), 23–42.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EBOOK COLOR […]

21 May 2024

20% Discount for Paperback Edition: “Maritime Gray Zone Operations: Challenges & Countermeasures in the Indo-Pacific”

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS A TWO-PAGE PDF OF THE FLYER.

China & North Korea’s Yellow Sea activities illuminated as nowhere else!

Check out the new paperback edition of our book, published in Naval War College Professor Geoffrey Till’s Routledge Cass Series on Naval Policy & History. Sponsored by the Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy (KIMS), it offers:

1) […]

14 May 2024

CMSI Translation #3: “Discussion on the Requirements and Methods of Intelligent Decision-Making in Torpedo Attacks by Unmanned Underwater Vehicles”

Ma Liang, Guo Liqiang, Zhang Hui, Yang Jing, and Liu Jian, “Discussion on the Requirements and Methods of Intelligent Decision-Making in Torpedo Attacks by Unmanned Underwater Vehicles,” CMSI Translation 3 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 14 May 2024).
All authors work at the PLAN Submarine Academy. First author Ma Liang is a […]

07 May 2024

China Maritime Report #38: “PLAN Anti-Submarine Warfare Aircraft—Sensors, Weapons, & Operational Concepts”

Eli Tirk and Daniel Salisbury, PLAN Anti-Submarine Warfare Aircraft—Sensors, Weapons, and Operational Concepts, China Maritime Report 38 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, May 2024).

About the Authors
Mr. Eli Tirk is a research analyst at the China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI). His main research areas include the PLA Air Force, PLA naval aviation, […]

02 May 2024

Now Out in Paperback! “Maritime Gray Zone Operations: Challenges & Countermeasures in the Indo-Pacific”

China & North Korea’s Yellow Sea activities illuminated as nowhere else!

Check out the new paperback edition of our book, published in Naval War College Professor Geoffrey Till’s Routledge Cass Series on Naval Policy & History. Sponsored by the Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy (KIMS), it offers:

1) An authoritative Preface by former Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet […]

02 May 2024

Must-Read from CMSI’s Ryan Martinson! “The PLA Navy’s Blue Team Center Games for War”

The PLA Navy’s Blue Team Center Games for War
Naval Command College “Blue Team” experts sometimes go so far as to wear OpFor uniforms during wargames. 
By Ryan D. Martinson
May 2024
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
Vol. 150/5/1,455

The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has embraced wargaming with an almost religious zeal. PLAN leaders vigorously promote the use of wargaming methods […]

29 April 2024

New from Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI)! 2024 Recognition & Identification Guides for 1) China People’s Liberation Army (PLAN) & 2) China Coast Guard & Government Maritime Forces

Attention, Attention, Attention—This is not a drill! Don’t miss the China government naval/maritime ship recognition Order of Battle (OOB) guides that the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) just released! It’s the first time this unparalleled resource has been publicly updated in 15.5 months… And, for the first time ever, ONI has divided its exquisitely-detailed […]

29 April 2024

CMSI Translation #2: “Dominating the Battlefield—The Advantages of Unmanned Intelligent Combat Forces”

CMSI Translation #2: Dominating the Battlefield—The Advantages of Unmanned Intelligent Combat Forces

Zhao Xiangang
Su Yanqin

Publication Date
April 2024

Translator’s Note
This article was part of a series of articles published by People’s Navy for the purpose of helping Chinese naval personnel to understand the characteristics of intelligent warfare and grasp the implications of Xi Jinping’s 20th Party Congress report […]

29 April 2024

CMSI Translation #1: “The ‘Cans’ and ‘Cannots’ of the Military Application of Artificial Intelligence”

CMSI Translation #1: The “Cans” and “Cannots” of the Military Application of Artificial Intelligence

Zhang Long
Publication Date
April 2024

Translator’s Note
This article was part of a series of articles published by People’s Navy for the purpose of helping Chinese naval personnel to understand the characteristics of intelligent warfare and grasp the implications of Xi Jinping’s 20th Party Congress […]

25 April 2024

New CMSI Series! Translations # 1 & 2—人民海军 (People’s Navy) Articles on PLA’s Integration of Cutting-Edge Technologies

New resource from Newport! Go straight to the source, in the PLA Navy’s own words… Check out the first two published translations in CMSI’s new product line! We bring you expertly-translated English versions of two articles from a series in Beijing’s official naval newspaper to help PRC naval personnel understand fundamental characteristics of intelligent warfare […]

15 April 2024

China Maritime Report #37: “Re-Engaging With the World: China’s Military Diplomacy in 2023”

Jie Gao and Kenneth W. Allen, Re-Engaging With the World: China’s Military Diplomacy in 2023, China Maritime Report 37 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, April 2024).

From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman:
CMSI is pleased to provide you with China Maritime Report (CMR) #37, Re-Engaging With the World – China’s Military Diplomacy in 2023.
This […]