School of War Reader: The People of China's Navy and Other Maritime Forces
China Maritime Report No. 47: The People of China's Navy and Other Maritime Forces
Andrew S. Erickson, China Maritime Studies Institute
Xi Jinping takes maritime dominance seriously. Do we?
Xi Jinping is China’s first great navalist statesman, the world’s greatest navalist leader today, and among the world’s greatest navalist statesmen in modern history. He considers willingness to embrace the ocean a primary determinant of a nation’s fate. He believes firmly in the importance of naval power and has pursued it concertedly and assertively as part of the most dramatic military buildup since World War II. He considers the seas surrounding China as its primary future battlefield. Xi has strongly prioritized, funded disproportionately, and grown the navy as a paramount “navy lobby of one,” since admirals are not prevalent atop the PLA leadership. He has personally influenced force structure decisions, including the prioritization of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) and aircraft carriers, as well as the expansion and upgrading in status of the PLAN Marine Corps (PLANMC). He personally decided on and promoted Beijing’s extensive feature augmentation and fortification in the South China Sea.
Why Democracy is in Retreat
Walter Russell Mead, Wall Street Journal
Guest Walter Mead on our democratic crisis:
At times, this year’s Democracy Summit sounded inspired and hopeful. Mr. Rasmussen’s address, in which he called for European defense spending to reach 4% or more of gross domestic product, was focused and clear. Boris Johnson’s defense of chlorinated chicken (“Delicious . . . made me the man I am”) accompanied a brilliant analysis of the war in Ukraine. A screening of the first episode of “Zero Day,” a Taiwan-made 10-part series about a Chinese invasion, got a standing ovation. But these high points couldn’t conceal the internal weaknesses that undermine the world’s democracy advocates. Too many of them, especially in Europe, conflate democracy as process—free elections with a free press to determine who gets to run a particular country—with electoral outcomes. They define a democratic election as one in which the right people win.
A Taipei Airlift: Lessons from Berlin
Reid Yankowski and Robert Wes, War on the Rocks
The Berlin Airlift as a template for a Taiwan blockade scenario:
The Berlin Airlift demonstrated that a clear strategic vision, coupled with economic and military resolve, can overcome a blockade and shift the balance of power in favor of a free and open world order. Breaking Chinese military blockade of Taiwan, while a daunting challenge, is not insurmountable. The success of a Taipei Airlift would require a robust coalition of nations willing to take calculated risks, ensure Taiwan’s continued survival, and impose severe costs on the Chinese Communist Party. However, history shows that breaking a blockade is only one part of the equation. Economic and diplomatic pressure must be applied to create steep costs for continuing a blockade while complementary military efforts compel the Chinese Communist Party to change course. Half-measures and symbolic gestures will invite more serious Chinese Communist Party escalation. Instead, forward-deployed military forces, air and maritime logistics prepositioning, economic resilience planning with Taiwan, and building the coalition should be priorities.
How Bibi Buggered on to Victory
Edward Luttwak, Tablet
Guest Edward Luttwak on Netanyahu’s leadership:
Between American permissiveness toward Iran’s multipronged campaign and Washington’s support for Netanyahu’s domestic opposition, calls for a Gaza cease-fire intensified and became the default position across the political landscape, from Israel’s left and even moderate center to most European governments, in addition to the Biden administration. It is against this backdrop that Netanyahu’s pure resolve must be understood. With this remarkable array of forces, external and internal, bearing down on him, his tenacity was the only thing that mattered. Having withstood this unrelenting pressure over the course of a year, Netanyahu had maneuvered into a position where, in the second half of 2024, Israel was able to turn the tables and reshape the entire geopolitical picture in a historic sequence of events.
The US Must Break China’s Chokehold on Our Rare Earth Magnet Supply
Nadia Schadlow, Hudson Institute
The crisis with America’s supply chain for rare earth magnets is acute:
As is especially clear today, China could, with a single export control, shut down almost all critical U.S. defense and commercial production lines. Almost every rare earth magnet manufacturer in the world is tied to China through ownership or related subsidiaries, or is dependent on China for material or equipment. That means the U.S. Navy’s entire fleet of ships and submarines, every MRI machine in the country and all our satellites are likely run on magnets that China made or mined. As the Critical Minerals Policy Working Group concluded in its final report in December, the United States must rethink its approach to the entire rare earth magnet supply chain.