Despite its impressive size and population, economic vitality, and drive to upgrade its military, China remains a vulnerable nation surrounded by powerful rivals and potential foes. Understanding China's foreign policy means fully appreciating these geostrategic challenges, which persist even as the country gains increasing influence over its neighbors. Andrew J. Nathan and Andrew Scobell analyze China's security concerns on four fronts: at home, with its immediate neighbors, in surrounding regional systems, and in the world beyond Asia. By illuminating the issues driving Chinese policy, they...
Despite its impressive size and population, economic vitality, and drive to upgrade its military, China remains a vulnerable nation surrounded by powe...
Culture influences the way strategists in a particular country think about matters of war and peace. Culture is especially influential in a country like China, with an ancient civilization and strategic tradition dating back thousands of years. The author of this monograph, Dr. Andrew Scobell, examines the impact of strategic culture on 21st century China. He contends that the People
Culture influences the way strategists in a particular country think about matters of war and peace. Culture is especially influential in a country li...
There is a need for the United States to move the debate over the challenge China presents us beyond the dispositions of the attention grabbing advocates: the rationalizers who explain Chinese actions in benign terms with their own political or academic motives, or the denigrators, who are "The Chinese Are Coming" school-to wit: China is belligerent, a threat, in short, a monster. It is increasingly important for Americans to think carefully about the vast complexities of the U.S.-China relationship, and the calculations that go into forming courses of action. The Chinese have to consider...
There is a need for the United States to move the debate over the challenge China presents us beyond the dispositions of the attention grabbing advoca...
In the first decade of the 21st century, few national security challenges facing the United States are as vexing as that posed by North Korea. North Korea is both a paradox and an enigma. It is a paradox because on the one hand, by some measures it appears to be a very powerful state-possessing the world's fourth largest armed forces, a sizeable arsenal of ballistic missiles, and a worrying nuclear program-but on the other hand, it is an economic basket case in terms of agricultural output, industrial production, and foreign trade exports. North Korea is also an enigma because virtually every...
In the first decade of the 21st century, few national security challenges facing the United States are as vexing as that posed by North Korea. North K...
This is the eighth volume on the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to be published by the Strategic Studies Institute. It is the product of a conference held at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, from September 23-25, 2005, to examine the PLA and the global security environment in which it operates. This gathering was the 18th in a series of annual conferences on China's PLA. I have been privileged to be involved with and/or attend most of these gatherings over the years. At the 2005 conference, I was honored to deliver the keynote address in which I offered some of my insights and observations...
This is the eighth volume on the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to be published by the Strategic Studies Institute. It is the product of a conference ...
Andrew Scobell Larry M. Wortzel American Enterprise Institute
National security decisionmaking under stress or crisis management is something with which I have had some firsthand experience over the course of my career in government service. Most relevant to the topic of this edited volume is my tour of duty as U.S. Ambassador in Beijing which began in May 1989-a month before Tiananmen of June 3 and 4. In my position as chief U.S. diplomat in China, I was an actor and an observer-along with many dedicated and resourceful U.S. Embassy personnel-to the events that constituted a case study of Chinese communist crisis management. My colleagues and I were...
National security decisionmaking under stress or crisis management is something with which I have had some firsthand experience over the course of my ...
The relationship between China and North Korea surely ranks as one of world's strangest. While on the surface, it might not seem surprising to have a formal military alliance between two communist neighbors that has endured more than 4 decades. After all, their armed forces fought shoulder-to-shoulder in the Korean War 50 years ago. However, Beijing's ties to Pyongyang have weakened considerably over time, and China now has much better and stronger relations with the free market democracy of South Korea than it does with the totalitarian, centrally planned economy of North Korea. In many ways...
The relationship between China and North Korea surely ranks as one of world's strangest. While on the surface, it might not seem surprising to have a ...
In November 2002, the Chinese Communist Party held its 16th Congress and formally initiated a sweeping turnover of senior leaders in both the Party and the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The meeting heralded not merely a new set of personalities in positions of political and military power, but also the emergence of a new generation of leaders. Who are these individuals, and what does their rise mean for the future of China and its military? The group of China specialists who have written this book have applied their research talents, intelligence, and hands-on experience to clarify and...
In November 2002, the Chinese Communist Party held its 16th Congress and formally initiated a sweeping turnover of senior leaders in both the Party an...
With the armed forces of the People's Republic of China celebrating their 75th anniversary on August 1, 2002, it only seemed appropriate and timely to take stock of the world's largest military. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has officially been in existence for three-quarters of a century, and its history is one filled with turmoil and warfare. One weekend in September 2002, a group of PLA specialists gathered at Carlisle Barracks, the home of the U.S. Army War College, to assess what lessons China's soldiers had drawn from the history of their own armed forces. This volume constitutes...
With the armed forces of the People's Republic of China celebrating their 75th anniversary on August 1, 2002, it only seemed appropriate and timely to...
Phillip C. Saunders Andrew Scobell Phillip Saunders
In recent years there have been reports of actions purportedly taken by People's Liberation Army (PLA) units without civilian authorization, and of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) civilian leaders seeking to curry favor with the military-suggesting that a nationalistic and increasingly influential PLA is driving more assertive Chinese policies on a range of military and sovereignty issues. To many experienced PLA watchers, however, the PLA remains a "party-army" that is responsive to orders from the CCP. PLA Influence on China's National Security Policymaking seeks to assess the "real"...
In recent years there have been reports of actions purportedly taken by People's Liberation Army (PLA) units without civilian authorization, and of Ch...