Tag Archives: China
Indonesia’s Strategic Flexibility
By Natalie Sambhi Brad Nelson has a neat overview in the Jakarta Globe earlier this month of Indonesia’s strategic options vis-à-vis China and the U.S. Enabled by what he calls ‘strategic flexibility’ (which I think is actually an extension of Indonesia’s so-called ‘dynamic equilibrium’ approach), Indonesia can stay neutral, pick China or the U.S., be a [...]
Read MoreEvaluating China’s Anti-Ship Drone Swarms
The Project 2049 Institute recently released a report on People’s Republic of China (PRC) UAV advances, with a focus on how those capabilities could be used to threaten U.S. Navy carrier strike groups. China’s expanding land- and sea-based UAV inventory runs the range from small tactical systems to medium-ranged Predator-class to unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) still under [...]
Read MoreThe Carrier and National Security Variables
The report At What Cost a Carrier? published by CNAS and written by CAPT Henry J. Hendrix contains all the necessary ingredients for a simple model-structuring discussion about the validity and viability of the “Carrier Force” concept. With such a model, individual variables can be discussed or discarded without undermining the need to answer the leading cost [...]
Read MoreMaritime Security and National Identity
A recent sign posted on the window of a Beijing restaurant refuses to serve certain nationalities due to current international maritime disputes between state actors. Sarah Danruo Wang analyzes how historic disputes on sea (and on land) shape national identity As I near graduation at the University of Toronto, I keep thinking about vignettes of [...]
Read MoreA Unified Chinese Coast Guard
Our friend Chuck Hill, of Chuck Hill’s CG Blog fame, has a short synopsis of news that went mostly unremarked in the past few weeks – namely the consolidation of several of China’s various civilian maritime services (or “dragons”) - into something approaching a unified Coast Guard in the mold of a naval auxiliary: The new agency [...]
MFP 9: Final Predictions For The Future
Any final predictions? This is the ninth and final regular post in our Maritime Futures Project. For more information on the contributors, click here. Note: The opinions and views expressed in these posts are those of the authors alone and are presented in their personal capacity. They do not necessarily represent the views of their parent institution U.S. Department of [...]
MFP 7: Future Maritime Disputes
What maritime dispute is most likely to lead to armed conflict in the next 5/10/20 years? This is the seventh in our series of posts from our Maritime Futures Project. For more information on the contributors, click here. Note: The opinions and views expressed in these posts are those of the authors alone and are presented in [...]