Recent Publications

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA)
December 31, 2009 — Author: Mr Daniel Alderman Participants considered the PLA’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party; trends in the PLA’s ongoing reforms to informationalize, mechanize, and adapt to China’s evolving defense needs; and the PLA’s role in tackling internal security challenges. PLA operations abroad were discussed, with participants assessing... MORE

China’s Maritime Quest
June 1, 2009 — Author: Dr David Lai Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the June 2009 newsletter.Read Now MORE

Beyond the Strait: PLA Missions other than Taiwan
March 1, 2009 — Author: Mr Roy Kamphausen, Dr David Lai, Dr Andrew Scobell SSI and NBR conducted a book launch event for this book. Audio is available on the NBR site.While preventing independence likely remains the central aim of the PLA vis-a-vis Taiwan, Chinese foreign policy objectives worldwide are rapidly growing and diversifying. This volume analyzes the... MORE

Kazakhstan’s Defense Policy: An Assessment of the Trends
February 9, 2009 — Author: Mr Roger N McDermott Kazakhstan’s foreign policy, since its independence, has successfully avoided favoring any one country based on what Astana styles as a “multi-vectored” approach to foreign policy. Yet, in terms of its conduct of defense and security policies, this paradigm simply does not fit with how the regime makes policy in its... MORE

Russia, China, and the United States in Central Asia: Prospects for Great Power Competition and Cooperation in the Shadow of the Georgian Crisis
February 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Elizabeth Wishnick Russia and China have been reacting to the pressures of changing U.S.-Central Asia policy over the past 5 years as has the United States. In response to the “color” revolutions, they achieved broad agreement on the priority of regime security and the need to limit the long-term military presence of the United States in... MORE

PLA Missions Beyond Taiwan
November 1, 2008 — Author: Mr Marc Miller The interplay between China’s armed forces and its complex foreign policy and international security environment was examined in order to understand the requirements of several newly emerging PLA missions, and to consider how these specific interactions affect policy towards Taiwan and the wider Asia-Pacific region. Three... MORE

The “People” in the PLA: Recruitment, Training, and Education in China’s Military
August 1, 2008 — Authors: Mr Roy Kamphausen, Dr Andrew Scobell, Mr Travis Tanner This volume represents the latest in the series published by the Strategic Studies Institute and describes the advances and reforms the PLA has made in its recruitment, officer and NCO training and education, and mobilization. As part of its larger reform effort to modernize and... MORE

China-Russia Security Relations: Strategic Parallelism without Partnership or Passion?
August 1, 2008 — Author: Dr Richard Weitz This report argues that, although Chinese-Russian relations have improved along several important dimensions, security cooperation between Beijing and Moscow has remained limited, episodic, and tenuous. The two governments support each other on select issues but differ on others. Since these interests conflict as well as... MORE

Prospects from Korean Unification
April 1, 2008 — Author: COL (Australian Army) David Coghlan Throughout the 1990s, predictions of Korean reunification were rife. Since then, enthusiasm for such predictions have faded, and although the underlying assumption of reunification remains, forecasts of when and how this will occur have been more subdued. Reunification poses two distinct yet... MORE

Building for the Future: China’s Progress in Space Technology during the Tenth 5-Year Plan and the U.S. Response
March 1, 2008 — Author: Mr Kevin Pollpeter The Chinese government is using space power to increase its influence at home and abroad and hopes to leverage the political, economic, and military benefits of space to become a great power. The ambivalent nature of the U.S.-China relationship, however, assures that over the long term China's rise as a space power will... MORE

East Asian Security: Two Views
November 1, 2007 — Author: Dr Gilbert Rozman, Dr Chu Shulong A new framework for Northeast Asian security must cope with the legacy of six decades of frequent changes in the region’s great power relations. In order to realize the goals of the Joint Agreement in the Six-Party Talks, multilateralism is becoming more important. U.S. leadership faces challenges from: the... MORE

The “People” in the PLA: Recruitment, Training, and Education in China’s 80-Year-Old Military
November 1, 2007 — Author: Mr Justin B Liang, Dr Sarah K Snyder Three conclusions were reached: (1) China’s ideal “new type” of military officer is university educated and possesses the technical competence and physical ability to handle actual combat against a modern, high-tech adversary. (2) Driven by the understanding of the critical and integral role of soldiers... MORE