– Washington Times – The Trump administration is demanding that China remove all advanced missiles deployed on disputed islands in the South China Sea, the first time such a demand has been made public.

– National Interest – By itself, a Look Out II-type boat does not boast impressive firepower. But then, robot missile vessels won’t operate by themselves.

– CIMSEC – CIMSEC was pleased to be joined by Dr. Toshi Yoshihara of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA). Professor Yoshihara is a long-time expert and well-published author on Asian security topics, Chinese naval capabilities, and Chinese maritime strategy.

– War Zone – The Chinese have their own plans to use the missiles on land and at sea, but also hope to court foreign buyers.

– War Zone – China is investing heavily in penetrating unmanned aircraft with a possible eye toward developing a drone that will fly from one its future carriers.

– National Interest – Beijing has been studying how to implement a sudden “total exclusion zone.” Target: Taiwan.

– Washington Free Beacon – China’s military is preparing to wage autonomous underwater warfare against the United States, including the use of drone submarine attacks on American aircraft carriers, according to the official Chinese military newspaper.

– War on the Rocks – In this article, we examine two major gray-zone techniques employed by Chinese state-affiliated actors in the Arctic region: strategic investment in infrastructure and resources that may serve military or security as well as commercial purposes (but which often make little economic sense), and scientific research that advances both military and commercial interests.

– South China Morning Post – Ocean Network Canada confirms addition of hi-tech sensors built by Chinese scientists to its marine observatories in Pacific Ocean.

– The Diplomat – Based on satellite imagery analysis, Chinese naval aviation has acquired its first four Xian H-6J bombers.

– National Interest – The December 2016 drone incident could well be a harbinger of coming attractions.

– National Interest – It might not end peacefully.

– National Interest – Beijing’s military wants to sow paralysis in an enemy system-of-systems for long enough to accomplish its goals—that way it will not need to bother trying to annihilate its adversary.

– Royal United Services Institute – The United States and Chinese navies have just narrowly avoided a dangerous collision. This was not an accident but an escalation, a show of force on the part of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) to drive out the US Navy from what China considers its territorial waters in the South China Sea.

– USNI News – China ratcheted up its response to U.S. Navy freedom of navigation operation over the weekend, sending a Luyang-class destroyer on a near-collision-course with USS Decatur (DDG-73), but the reasoning behind the move is likely more nuanced than defending territory.

– National Interest – Recent Chinese writings point to some interesting signs.

– USNI News – Russia recently concluded the 2018 edition of the massive Vostok exercise series that included Chinese forces for the first time. At Moscow’s invitation, Beijing sent People’s Liberation Army soldiers, helicopters, tanks – and one uninvited Chinese surveillance ship.

– CIMSEC – Since the end of the Cold War, the West has been able to exercise Sea Control when so needed without having to fight for command of the sea. This comfortable situation is now going away – and it has already disappeared regarding a potential conflict with China.

– National Interest – In lieu of real wartime experience, the PLAN is drawing from history.

– South China Morning Post – Last August, China opened its first overseas military base in Djibouti, a tiny nation in the Horn of Africa. Djibouti plays host to more foreign military facilities than anywhere else in the world, offering a key strategic location to supply regional peacekeeping and humanitarian missions and combat piracy.

– National Interest – Could it be sea mines?

– National Interest – There is a small probability that China will emerge as a genuine aggressor state. In that case, a defensible “red line” will have to be drawn, but Taiwan is precisely the wrong place to draw that potentially very important line.

– National Interest – Even as Western strategists spill gobs of ink recalling the Great War that convulsed Europe a century ago, Chinese military thinkers are actually fixated on another anniversary. 120 years ago, Japan shocked the world with a lightning campaign that not only reduced the faltering Qing dynasty to its knees in a matter of months, but more to the point: put the pride of China’s then ascendant fleet on the bottom of the Yellow Sea.

– USNI Proceedings – As China has built its naval power, it has relied on a variety of ideas—old and new, Eastern and Western. For U.S. military leaders seeking to understand China’s naval aspirations, certain images can bring the strategy into focus—like the crumple zones built into a modern automobile, designed to give but not fail.

– National Interest – Chinese naval strategists have watched the development of Russia’s Status-6 large-scale UUV with considerable interest.