– USNI News – China has commissioned its second Luyang III guided missile destroyer as part of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) ongoing surface force expansion.

– Stratfor – Beijing is devoting considerable resources to enhance the navy’s anti-submarine warfare capabilities and correct one of its greatest military weaknesses. China’s navy will improve, but it is still many years of effort and investment away from achieving the level of capability Beijing requires.

– USNI – As the initial sea trials of Liaoning usher in the age of the Chinese carrier fleet, it is worth examining how the PLAN would employ such assets within its greater maritime strategy.

– USNI News – China commissioned its first semi-submersible logistics ship for the People’s Liberation Army – Navy (PLAN) in a July 10 ceremony at the PLAN’s Zhanjiang Naval Base in Guangdong Province.

– CIMSEC – Zhongguo Haijing, or China Coast Guard (CCG) 2901, was not built to fight wars. At over 10,000 metric tons, it is by far the world’s largest constabulary vessel, a class of ship operating at the vanguard of China’s peacetime expansion in maritime East Asia. When it is commissioned sometime in the coming weeks, it will provide a huge advantage to China in the battle of wills taking place along its maritime periphery.

– Asian Maritime Transparency Institute – With six-plus-years of Chinese Gulf of Aden anti-piracy operations and China’s first submarine deployments to the Indian Ocean, considering possible support facilities for the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) isn’t just for those theorizing a “String of Pearls” anymore. The U.S. Department of Defense itself forecasts that within the coming decade Beijing will establish one or more facilities capable of providing significant, if still limited, logistical support. The IOR is attracting increasing Chinese and American attention, with the latest U.S. Maritime Strategy referring to the “Indo-Asia-Pacific” and the previous commander of the U.S. Pacific Command describing its area of operations extending “from Hollywood to Bollywood.” With IOR geopolitics thus receiving growing outside attention, where China will ultimately locate its naval logistics points is an increasingly important question.

– National Interest – “[I]f the United States insists on publicly denying and routinely penetrating the 12-nm lines, China simply cannot bear the costs of inaction.”

– The Diplomat – China is becoming “more willing and able” to stake and defend its interests overseas.

– National Interest – Here are three ways in which tensions in the South China Sea might lead to conflict.

– Want China Times – Admitting that Japan has the capability to project its naval force to the South China Sea, Admiral Li Jie of China’s People’s Liberation Army said Chinese warships also have the right to ram Japanese ships in the disputed region.

– McClatchy – U.S. officials and many of China’s neighbors are alarmed by China’s construction of artificial islands and military facilities in the South China Sea, given its growing fleet of nuclear submarines.

– US Naval War College Review – Xi Jinping’s declaration that China should strive to become a “true maritime power” has been much discussed in the context of China’s “peaceful rise” and the pursuit of the “Chinese dream.” Although there is, at face value, nothing quite new about Xi’s exhortation to the Chinese leadership, his remarks need to be understood against a rather complex background of situations, policies, and aspirations if their full significance is to be appreciated.

– US Naval War College Review – Tracing the evolution in French, Soviet, and Chinese naval thought.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – While the world has been busy watching China’s blue-water naval buildup, the People’s Republic has been steadily exploiting maritime law enforcement—and its coast guard—as an instrument of statecraft.

– The Diplomat – The U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence offers a wealth of new information on the PLA Navy.

– Jamestown Foundation – The white paper has thereby acknowledged the need to shift the balance in PLA thinking from ground operations to joint naval and aerospace operations—something that has been signaled for years (going back officially at least to 2004), but will require change in all aspects of future military modernization. The impact of this admission on the PLA as an institution cannot be understated. It will have effects on everything from force size, structure and composition to personnel polices, doctrine, training, logistics and equipment acquisition.

– The Diplomat – Beijing is prevailing over its neighbors in the South China Sea. It may also have the solution.

– Real Clear Defense – So how, in practical terms, should U.S. and friendly powers defy excessive Chinese claims in South China Sea waters and skies? By deploying some small-stick diplomacy of their own. Make a statement that no one can unilaterally abridge freedom of the sea—and make China look like the bully it is.

– BBC – China is to focus on projecting its military presence beyond its borders at sea, according to a strategy document.

– USNI News – The following is the first public Chinese Military Strategy white paper outlining a new policy of “active defense,” released by the Chinese Ministry of National Defense on May 26, 2015.

– Defense News – It’s no secret that China has embarked on a major modernization and expansion plan for its Navy, and its aggressive building program, coupled with the placing in service of more modern submarines, an aircraft carrier, destroyers with ever-sophisticated sensors and a large number of long-range surface-to-surface missiles, is altering politics and strategies throughout the Asian theater. What is not so clear is what sort of fleet the Chinese are building toward, and how far their industrial capability can take them.

– Real Clear Defense – My entreaty to American diplomats and naval leaders is this: yield nothing to China in the South China Sea. Do not compromise on surveillance flights, underwater surveys, or any other part of the law of the sea for the sake of amity with Beijing. Freedom of the sea is indivisible. Let some of it go and the rest is apt to follow. By contrast, exercising high-seas freedoms to the maximum extent lawful represents a statement—backed by steel—that no coastal state may annul or modify basic principles underlying the liberal maritime order.

USNI Blog – “Never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” – Rahm Emanuel

– USNI News – For China, the broader Mediterranean region is of real interest in terms of both energy security and trade.

– BBC – The US says that China has expanded its programme of land reclamation in the South China Sea.