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  • Assessment of the PLA’s 3-Star Promotions in January 2022

    On 5 January 2022, Xi Jinping chaired a promotion ceremony for seven officers as either a commander (CDR) or political commissar (PC).  Each new general has the grade of Theater Command (TC) Leader and each previously held a billet at the grade of TC deputy leader.  As a TC leader-grade officer,

  • China’s Model of Science

         On 20 January 2021 newly inaugurated President Biden sent a letter to his science advisor, geneticist Eric Lander, posing five essential questions about how to ensure America’s leadership in science and technology for the next 75 years. The letter deliberately invoked a similar letter sent by

  • Competition with China: The PLA Air Force

    Part of CASI's "Competition With China" video series which helps Airmen better understand the strategic competition with China broadly, and takes a deep look at many of the military and security aspects of that competition. CASI uses source documents to research and report on China’s aerospace

  • ITOW: China-Russia joint statement on International Relations Entering a New Era

    At the invitation of President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir V. Putin visited China on 4 February 2022. The Heads of State held talks in Beijing and took part in the opening ceremony of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games. They issues the

  • Control and Decisionmaking in Xi Jinping’s Military

    Over the past decade, Xi Jinping centralized control over the military through more than just reshuffling the People’s Armed Forces. Just as importantly, he stripped away control over the Party gun from other parts of the Chinese Communist Party. In doing this, the primary potential disrupting

  • Third Combat Brigade of PLA Air Force Likely Receives Stealth Fighters

    On 9 December the Dutch Aviation Society’s website Scramble reported that a J-20 bearing the serial number 61162 had been spotted the day before. The J-20 is the first and only fifth-generation fighter that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force operates. Judging from this serial

  • CMSI report on Chinese Special Operations in a Large-Scale Island Landing

    This is a report from our "Big Brothers" at the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) focused on PLA SOF.      PLA special operations forces (SOF) would likely play important supporting roles in an amphibious assault on Taiwan. Their capabilities and training are geared towards several missions

  • CASI Webinar on China and Cyber

    CASI hosted a webinar focused on Cyber issues related to the PRC.  We were joined by: Naomi Wilson, Vice president of policy for Asia at the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) Prof SHEN Yi, Associate Professor of the Department of International Politics, School of International

  • In Their Own Words: 2020 Science of Military Strategy

          The “In Their Own Words” series is dedicated to translations of Chinese documents in order to help non-Mandarin speaking audiences access and understand Chinese thinking. In the “In Their Own Words” series, CASI aims to provide Chinese texts that illustrate thoughtful, clearly articulated,

  • .....Don't Think Like a Westerner

    This article is the second in a series of essays, workshops, and events seeking to better understand the nature of deterrence, particularly from the viewpoint of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) People’s Liberation Army (PLA).  This series is a joint project between the Australian Strategic

  • Sino-Russian Defense Cooperation’s Impact on Chinese Aerospace RD&A

    We should not forget that in the “Era of Great Power Competition,” the United States has two peer “Strategic Competitors” and several others with whom we compete. When our two largest competitors, namely the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation, cooperate toward their common

  • China's Spaceplane Program

    Spaceplanes are one area in which China seeks to mimic or compete with U.S. technology. Inspired by the U.S. Space Shuttle and more recently by the Boeing X-37B orbital test vehicle, China has several ongoing projects to develop reusable launch vehicles capable of flight in both air and space. While

  • ITOW: China National Nuclear Power appeals for bigger role

    Below is a partial translation of a speech by Lu Tiezhong, head of China National Nuclear Power Co., LTD., in the business of the development, investment, construction, operations, and management of nuclear power projects. The Shanghai-listed company is part of the larger China National Nuclear

  • Competition with China: PLA Command and Control

    Part of CASI's "Competition With China" video series which helps Airmen better understand the strategic competition with China broadly, and takes a deep look at many of the military and security aspects of that competition. CASI uses source documents to research and report on China’s aerospace

  • Competition With China: PLA Overall Organization and Personnel

    This is the second in CASI's "Competition With China" video series.  This new video series helps Airmen better understand the strategic competition with China broadly, and takes a deep look at many of the military and security aspects of that competition. CASI uses source documents to research and

  • In Their Own Words- Services and Arms Application in Joint Operations

    Service and Arms Application in Joint Operations is one of the special series of reference texts written under the PLA Joint Operations Command Talent Cultivation Project of the former Shenyang Military Area Command. It discusses the roles and methods of all Services in integrated joint operations