Andrew S. Erickson
Articles about Andrew S. Erickson
Honored to Provide Foreword for Latest “Modern Chinese Maritime Forces”—Most Comprehensive Unclassified Order of Battle for China’s Sea Services!
Follow the latest developments in China’s growing nuclear-powered submarine force (pp. 20–22) and beyond with this new edition of “Modern Chinese Maritime Forces,” the most comprehensive open source PRC sea services inventory! As we gallop through the Year of the Fire Horse (火马年), China under Xi is steaming full speed ahead, particularly at sea. Navigate troubled [...]
Toppling Trees, Flourishing Forest: Why the PLA Navy Advances Despite “Corruption”-Related Removals
Andrew S. Erickson, “Toppling Trees, Flourishing Forest: Why the PLA Navy Advances Despite ‘Corruption’-Related Removals,” Issues in National Security Lecture, Naval War College, 22 September 2026. Click here to watch on YouTube. This INS lecture examines an apparent paradox in Xi Jinping’s military modernization: even as unprecedented purges remove senior officers and defense-industry leaders, China’s military—and particularly [...]
China Maritime Report #58—“Tightening the Institutional Cage: The PLA Navy’s Discipline Inspection Commission”
Eric Hundman and Connor Akiyama, Tightening the Institutional Cage: The PLA Navy’s Discipline Inspection Commission, China Maritime Report 58 (Newport, RI: Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, 28 September 2026). CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A CACHED COPY. From CMSI Director Christopher Sharman: China Navy Watchers: Who polices the people who police the PLAN? The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) [...]
China Maritime Studies Institute Celebrates 20 Years with Lecture by Former Chief of Naval Operations, Panel Discussion
“China Maritime Studies Institute Celebrates 20 Years with Lecture by Former Chief of Naval Operations, Panel Discussion,” U.S. Naval War College Public Affairs, 25 September 2026. China Maritime Studies Institute Celebrates 20 Years with Lecture by Former Chief of Naval Operations, Panel Discussion The U.S. Naval War College (NWC) celebrated the 20th anniversary of the founding of [...]
CMSI’s 20th Anniversary! China Maritime Studies Institute Established Two Decades Ago within Naval War College
Andrew S. Erickson, “CMSI’s 20th Anniversary! China Maritime Studies Institute Established Two Decades Ago within Naval War College,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 2 October 2024. Yesterday, as a new fiscal year began, the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) marked twenty years since its establishment within the Naval War College (NWC) in Newport, Rhode Island. I [...]
The China Navy Leadership: Corruption & Capabilities Bookshelf
Andrew S. Erickson, “The China Navy Leadership: Corruption & Capabilities Bookshelf,” China Analysis from Original Sources 以第一手资料研究中国, 21 September 2026. Since Xi assumed power in 2012, scores of flag and general officers and defense industry leaders have been removed. This is part of a larger pattern across China’s entire Party-State-Military bureaucracy. By my earlier tally, Xi-era removals within [...]