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  China's Quest for Military Supremacy

  Maria Carrai, Phillip C. Saunders, and Joel Wuthnow

  On 25 Feb, INSS China Center Director Dr. Phillip Saunders and Senior Research Fellow Dr. Joel Wuthnow (INSS) spoke about their new book China’s Quest for Military Supremacy on the podcast, Mapping Global China, hosted by Maria Carrai at NYU Shanghai.

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  China’s Quest for Military Supremacy: A Conversation with Dr. Joel Wuthnow and Dr. Phil Saunders

  Phillip C. Saunders, Joel Wuthnow, and Bonny Lin

  In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, Dr. Joel Wuthnow and Dr. Phil Saunders discuss their new book on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA): China’s Quest for Military Supremacy. They begin by explaining the motivations behind their book and the growing demand for a comprehensive resource on the PLA among students, policymakers, and defense practitioners. Dr. Wuthnow then outlines how the PLA has entered a “new era” under Xi Jinping, characterized by greater confidence, structural reforms, and an expanding operational reach. Dr. Saunders then highlights how the PLA is increasingly being used to shape the Indo-Pacific region, citing China’s recent live-fire exercises near Australia and New Zealand as an example of its more assertive posture. Both experts also delve into key challenges facing the PLA, from Xi Jinping’s efforts to tighten party control to persistent corruption and political reliability issues. They also assess how the PLA’s rigid command structure and political indoctrination could undermine effectiveness in a crisis. Finally, the two experts assess the PLA’s progress becoming more joint, its nuclear modernization efforts, and the broader implications for U.S. and regional security. They conclude by discussing their views on how a second Trump administration could impact PLA behavior and China’s strategic calculations.

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  Unpacking China’s PLA Restructuring: A Conversation with Dr. Joel Wuthnow

  Bonny Lin and Joel Wuthnow

  Dr. Joel Wuthnow (INSS/Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs) was interviewed on the Center for Strategic & International Studies’ (CSIS) ChinaPower podcast.

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  The Russo-Chinese Alliance and Great Power Competition with Dr. Tom Lynch

  Kelly McFarland and Thomas F. Lynch III

  This week, Kelly talks with retired army officer and National Defense University research fellow Dr. Tom Lynch about the impact of Ukraine's war on great power conflict and US-China competition.

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  China’s Expanding Nuclear Capabilities: A Conversation with David Logan and Phil Saunders

  Bonny Lin, David Logan, and Phillip C. Saunders

  In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, we are joined by David Logan and Phil Saunders, who’ve recently co-authored a new report titled Discerning the Drivers of China’s Nuclear Force Development: Models, Indicators, and Data. They lay out the six models developed in the report and explain which models are the most compelling for explaining China’s behavior. Dr. Logan dives into the expansion in size, structure, and capabilities of China’s nuclear stockpile in the last 10 years but highlights the fact that there has been no official announcement on China’s reasoning for this build-up. In the context of this expansion, Dr. Saunders points out that China is showing signs that its nuclear strategy could be shifting, and he notes that the prospects of strategic arms control have become more complicated.

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  Double Crisis Double Feature

  Colleen Wood and Jeffrey Mankoff

  With Kyrgyzstan and Nagorno Karabakh in crisis, Colleen Wood and Jeff Mankoff join to help us break down both.