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  Sea Dragons: Special Operations and Chinese Military Strategy

  John Chen and Joel Wuthnow

  As China continues to rise as a global sea power, its maritime strategy continues to evolve. Among these critical evolutions is one of the People’s Liberation Army’s naval special operations forces’ most elite units: the Sea Dragons. A small yet highly specialized unit, the Sea Dragons entered the global spotlight and international consciousness with the 2018 film Operation Red Sea, raising several questions for Chinese naval experts. What does Chinese military strategy and doctrine require of special forces, and specifically naval SOF, to be able to accomplish the mission, particularly along the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea? What are their capabilities and limitations? What real-world experience do they have and how might they be employed in the future? This volume attempts to answer those questions and many more regarding one of China’s more enigmatic units and its role in future peacetime and low-intensity conflicts.

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  Crossing the Strait: China’s Military Prepares for War with Taiwan

  Joel Wuthnow, Derek Grossman, Phillip C. Saunders, Andrew Scobell, Andrew N.D. Yang, Joshua Arostegui, Michael Casey, Alexander Chieh-cheng Huang, Chieh Chung, Mathieu Duchâtel, Conor M. Kennedy, Roderick Lee, Sale Lilly, and Drew Thompson

  Both the U.S. and Chinese militaries are increasingly focused on a possible confrontation over Taiwan. China regards the island as an integral part of its territory and is building military capabilities to deter Taiwan independence and compel Taiwan to accept unification. Based on original research by leading international experts, Crossing the Strait: China’s Military Prepares for War with Taiwan explores the political and military context of cross-strait relations, with a focus on understanding the Chinese decision calculus about when and how to use force, the capabilities the People’s Liberation Army would bring to the fight, and what Taiwan can do to defend itself.

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  The PLA Beyond Borders: Chinese Military Operations in Regional and Global Context

  Joel Wuthnow, Arthur S. Ding, Phillip C. Saunders, Andrew Scobell, Andrew N.D. Yang, John Chen, Dean Cheng, Chung Chieh, Kieran Green, Kristen Gunness, Isaac B. Kardon, Ying-Yu Lin, Joe McReynolds, Jonah Victor, and Shinji Yamaguchi

  No longer confined to China’s land territory or its near abroad, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is conducting increasingly complex operations farther and farther from China’s continental borders. Within Asia, the PLA now regularly operates into the far reaches of the South China Sea and deep into the Western Pacific, enforcing China’s territorial claims and preparing to counter U.S. intervention in a regional conflict. Beyond Asia, the PLA is present on the ground, at sea, or in military exercises with foreign partners across the Indian Ocean and into the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Foreign militaries now regularly encounter the PLA, whether in tense incidents or friendly contacts, on their home turf and in the global commons.

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  Chairman Xi Remakes the PLA: Assessing Chinese Military Reforms

  Phillip C. Saunders, Arthur S. Ding, Andrew Scobell, Andrew N.D. Yang, Joel Wuthnow, Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga, Dennis J. Blasko, Edmund J. Burke, Arthur Chan, John Chen, Tai Ming Cheung, John Costello, Mark R. Cozad, Andrew S. Erickson, Kim Fassler, David M. Finkelstein, Daniel Gearin, Justin Godby, Brian Lafferty, David C. Logan, LeighAnn Luce, Ma Chengkun, Joel McFadden, Joe McReynolds, Ian Burns McCaslin, and Erin Richter

  China’s current military reforms are unprecedented in their ambition and in the scale and scope of the organizational changes. Virtually every part of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) now reports to different leaders, has had its mission and responsibilities changed, has lost or gained subordinate units, or has undergone a major internal reorganization.

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  The People’s Liberation Army and Contingency Planning in China

  Andrew Scobell, Arthur S. Ding, Phillip C. Saunders, Scott W. Harold, Michael S. Chase, Dean Cheng, Mark Cozad, Jeffrey Engstrom, Kristen Gunness, Alexander Chieh-cheng Huang, Ben Lowsen, Ma Chengkun, Lyle Morris, Mark A. Stokes, Marcelyn L. Thompson, Jonathan Walton, Catherine Welch, Thomas Woodrow, and Larry M. Wortzel

  How will China use its increasing military capabilities in the future? China faces a complicated security environment with a wide range of internal and external threats. Rapidly expanding international interests are creating demands for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to conduct new missions ranging from protecting Chinese shipping from Somali pirates to evacuating citizens from Libya. The most recent Chinese defense white paper states that the armed forces must “make serious preparations to cope with the most complex and difficult scenarios . . . so as to ensure proper responses . . . at any time and under any circumstances.”

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  A Low-Visibility Force Multiplier: Assessing China’s Cruise Missile Ambitions

  Dennis M. Gormley, Andrew S. Erickson, and Jingdong Yuan

  China’s military modernization is focused on building modern ground, naval, air, and missile forces capable of fighting and winning local wars under informationized conditions. The principal planning scenario has been a military campaign against Taiwan, which would require the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to deter or defeat U.S. intervention. The PLA has sought to acquire asymmetric “assassin’s mace” technologies and systems to overcome a superior adversary and couple them to the command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems necessary for swift and precise execution of short-duration, high-intensity wars.