Few issues are as important to U.S. national security analysts as China's military modernization, a process that has benefited directly from the past two decades of dramatic economic expansion. This book addresses the Chinese navy—the People's Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN—the service that has most dramatically benefited from increased defense funding.
This collection of essays surveys and analyzes the most important aspects of China's naval modernization. The book's chapters represent papers delivered at a 2007 conference, but have been updated and, most importantly, framed by expertly written introductory and concluding chapters that bring the book firmly into the century's second decade.
The first substantive chapter is a superb essay which sets the tone for this impressive collection by placing China's naval modernization into historical context. Especially relevant is his conclusion that "a rising naval power need not mean rising chances of war," effectively discrediting the often heard comparison between current China-U.S. naval developments and those of Germany and England in the years preceding World War I.
This timely and superbly edited book contains uniformly informative and well-written essays addressing one of the most important issues in the present-day international arena and the primary, long-term issue facing U.S. national security: the challenges posed by a growing, modernizing China. The Chinese Navy: Expanding Capabilities, Evolving Roles is a work that addresses all aspects of the role played by China's navy in Beijing's current accomplishments and future intentions. It is that rare collection of essays by different authors that richly deserves reading from cover to cover. — Dr. Bernard D. Cole, Professor of International History, National War College
Contents: Introduction * Rising Powers and Naval Power * Recent Developments in Naval and Maritime Modernization in the Asia-Pacific: Implications for Regional Security. * Beyond the Moat: The PLAN's Evolving Interests and Potential Influence * Toward a Maritime Security Strategy: An Analysis of Chinese Views Since the Early 1990s * PLAN Force Structure: Submarines, Ships, and Aircraft * Getting Rid of the Rust: Preparing Chinese Navy Leaders for High-tech War * * The PLA Navy's Antiaccess Role in a Taiwan Contingency * The PLA Navy as an Instrument of Statecraft * Informatization and the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy * Conclusion
