Regional Issues

China Landpower Studies Center | June 26, 2025

Planning for Protracted Conflict With China: Five Questions to Ask

Where and how a conflict starts will affect the kind of war it will be.

China Landpower Studies Center | June 3, 2025

Assessing the PLA’s Strengths and Weaknesses for Achieving the PRC’s Goals

This chapter examines the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) within the context of its modernization process and argues that the persistence of shortcomings may undercut the confidence senior leaders would prefer

China Landpower Studies Center | May 20, 2025

China Landpower Studies Center Newsletter II

In our second newsletter, we will share the China Landpower Studies Center (CLSC) team’s latest analysis and insights on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

China Landpower Studies Center | May 8, 2025

Ecuador’s Incoming Government Faces Difficult Choices Regarding China

With Daniel Noboa returning to the presidency and a new Chinese ambassador on the way, China-Ecuador relations are at an inflection point.From April 22-25, I had the opportunity to travel to Quito, Ecuador, to address an international forum on China

China Landpower Studies Center | May 8, 2025

China’s Coming Diplomatic Blitz in the Americas

The next few months will bring a series of high-profile multilateral engagements between China and Latin American countries, as Beijing seeks to capitalize on discontent with Trump.In the coming three months, China will have a number of opportunities

Category: South & Latin America

Argentina Political and Economic Challenges
March 12, 2024 — From February 24 through March 2, I traveled to Argentina to speak with government, business and... MORE

Argentina Political and Economic Challenges | R. Evan Ellis

The Case for Containing, Not Coddling, Maduro
March 4, 2024 — From 2019 to 2020, I had the honor of serving on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s policy planning staff (S/P). One of my priority focus areas was the dictatorship of Nicholas Maduro and the dangers it posed to the Venezuelan people and to the region. The Maduro regime’s expulsion of the office of United Nations High Commission for Human Rights from the country, and the arrest and forced disappearance... MORE

The Case for Containing, Not Coddling, Maduro
The inability of the U.S. to facilitate a return to democracy in Venezuela does not justify accommodating dictatorship in the name of engagement. by R. Evan Ellis

China’s Security Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean
February 26, 2024 — An overview of the characteristics and trends in China’s security engagement in the region, and how it is evolving. China’s activities in the security and defense sector in Latin America and the Caribbean are a small but strategically significant portion of its engagement with the region. Beijing has openly acknowledged its interest in engaging with the region on security matters in the 2008 and 2016... MORE

China’s Security Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean
An overview of the characteristics and trends in China’s security engagement in the region, and how it is evolving.

China-Latin America Space Cooperation: An Overview
February 16, 2024 — As China has increased its political and economic cooperation with Latin America, it has also... MORE

China-Latin America Space Cooperation: An Overview
By R. Evan Ellis

As China has increased its political and economic cooperation with Latin America, it has also expanded its space engagement with the region.
https://thediplomat.com/2024/02/china-latin-america-space-cooperation-an-overview/

PRC Engagement with Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe: Comparisons and Insights
February 8, 2024 — PRC Engagement with Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe: Comparisons and Insights R. Evan... MORE

PRC Engagement with Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe: Comparisons and Insights | R. Evan Ellis

Argentina's Milei Returns Idea of Limited Gov't to Global Stage In Latin America
February 6, 2024 — The nine most terrifying words in the English language are:I'm from the Government, and I'm here to... MORE

Argentina's Milei Returns Idea of Limited Gov't to Global Stage In Latin America | R. Evan Ellis

Strategic Implications of the Deterioration of the Rules-Based International Order
February 2, 2024 — The multiple crises currently playing out in Ukraine, the Middle East, the Taiwan straits, and even... MORE

Strategic Implications of the Deterioration of the Rules-Based International Order | R. Evan Ellis

International Competition in the High North: Kingston Conference on International Security 2022
January 25, 2024 — Editors: Michael E. Lynch, Howard G. CoombsThe 16th annual Kingston Consortium on International... MORE

Perspectives on Ecuador: The Sky Isn’t Falling
January 22, 2024 — The takeover of Ecuadorian TV station TC in the middle of a widely watched news broadcast, Ecuadoran... MORE

Perspectives on Ecuador: The Sky Isn’t Falling | R. Evan Ellis
Background image from United Press International via Global Americans Article (https://theglobalamericans.org/perspectives-on-ecuador-the-sky-isnt-falling)

Deterrence Gap: Avoiding War in the Taiwan Strait
January 5, 2024 — The likelihood China will attack Taiwan in the next decade is high and will continue to be so,... MORE

The likelihood China will attack Taiwan in the next decade is high and will continue to be so, unless Taipei and Washington take urgent steps to restore deterrence across the Taiwan Strait. This monograph introduces the concept of interlocking deterrents, explains why deterrents lose their potency with the passage of time, and provides concrete recommendations for how Taiwan, the United States, and other regional powers can develop multiple, interlocking deterrents that will ensure Taiwanese security in the short and longer terms. By joining deterrence theory with an empirical analysis of Taiwanese, Chinese, and US policies, the monograph provides US military and policy practitioners new insights into ways to deter the People’s Republic of China from invading Taiwan without relying exclusively on the threat of great-power war.
Jared M. McKinney and Peter Harris
Keywords
Taiwan, China, deterrence, cross-strait relations, Indo-Pacific, East Asia, US foreign policy, international security

Disciplines
Defense and Security Studies

https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/964