Chinese Naval Shipbuilding: An Ambitious and Uncertain Course(Studies in Chinese Maritime Development)

China's shipbuilding industry has grown more rapidly than any other in modern history. Commercial shipbuilding output jumped thirteen-fold from 200212, ensuring that Beijing has largely reached its goal of becoming the world's leading shipbuilder. Yet progress is uneven, with military shipbuilding leading overall but with significant weakness in propulsion and electronics for military and civilian applications. It has never been more important to assess what ships China can supply its navy and other maritime forces with, today and in the future. Chinese Naval Shipbuilding answers three pressing questions: What are China's prospects for success in key areas of naval shipbuilding? What are the likely results for China's navy? What are the implications for the U.S. Navy? To address these critical issues, this volume assembles some of the world's leading experts and linguistic analysts, often pairing them in research teams. These sailors, scholars, industry professionals, and government specialists have commanded ships at sea, led shipbuilding programs ashore, toured Chinese vessels and production facilities, invested in Chinese shipyards, and analyzed and presented important data to top-level decision-makers in times of crisis. In synthesizing their collective insights, this book fills a key gap in our understanding of China, its shipbuilding industry, its navy, and what it all means.

About the Author :
Dr. Andrew S. Erickson is a professor of strategy at the Naval War College and an associate in research at Harvard's Fairbank Center. In 2013, he deployed as a Regional Security Education Program scholar aboard the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group. Erickson runs the research websites www.andrewerickson.com and www.chinasignpost.com.

Review :
The book makes a large contribution to our understanding of the status and progress of China’s shipbuilding industry. All of the authors have made very good use of the available public sources, including the Chinese government’s policy announcements and regulations, industrial analyses, and individual enterprises’ publications, and this enables them to make a knowledgeable assessment of the progress in China’s shipbuilding industry."—The China Journal "So what are the Chinese thinking?... To what end? I don’t know.' Hopefully, we’ll get more books like Chinese Naval Shipbuilding to help us figure that out."—Naval History Book Reviews A professor of naval strategy at the Naval War College, presents 17 chapters written by naval, academic, and industry experts and linguistics to penetrate the shroud over the Chinese shipbuilding industry."—Seapower Magazine "What are China’s prospects for success in key areas of naval shipbuilding? What are the likely results for China’s Navy? What are the implications for the U.S. Navy? To address these critical, complex issues, this book brings together some of the world’s leading experts and linguistic analysts, often pairing them in research teams. These professionals have commanded ships at sea, led shipbuilding programs ashore, toured Chinese vessels and production facilities, invested in Chinese shipyards and advised others in their investment, and analyzed and presented important data to top-level decision makers in times of crisis. This book fills a key gap in our understanding of China, its shipbuilding, its navy, and what it all means."Sea Technology "The contributors – comprising sailors, scholars and industry professionals – seek to assess China’s prospects in key areas of shipbuilding and the potential implications for the US Navy."Survival: Global Politics and Strategy "Chinese Naval Shipbuilding is highly recommended for everyone who wants to better understand our future multipolar world… healthy food for the brain."—Australian Naval Institute "The book makes it obvious that the next decade will be very important and probably exciting as far as US/China naval relations are concerned."— Work Boat World "The book provides authoritative, in-depth analysis of an area crucial to current and future global naval developments that makes it essential reading for any serious student of contemporary maritime affairs."—Warship "This excellent and wide-ranging book represents a very strong expression of interest in Chinese maritime matters."—Ausmarine "This is an important, timely and indeed ambitious book at a pivotal moment in world history. In understanding China’s shipbuilding and designs one also gains a glimpse into the cultural knowledge, technologies and enduring artefacts necessary to sustain a Navy."—The Navy, Navy League of Australia