– 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.

– US Department of Defense – Department of Defense’s annual report to Congress, Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2015

– RealClearDefense – A “Great Wall of Sand”? Kudos are due U.S. Pacific Command chieftain Harry Harris for spotlighting China’s misadventures in the South China Sea.

– RealClearDefense – In Jan. 2015, The Namibian reported the existence of a “confidential letter from Namibia’s ambassador to China, Ringo Abed, to Namibia’s foreign minister stat[ing] that ‘a [Chinese] delegation will visit Namibia … for discussions … on the way forward regarding plans for the proposed naval base in Walvis Bay’.”

– USNI News – Six Russian and three Chinese naval ships will meet in the Mediterranean next month to conduct a series of surface exercises to include live fire drills.

– Aviation Week – China may be able to take out an American aircraft carrier with its feared DF-21 antiship ballistic missile (ASBM) without even taking a shot. Now some powerful people in DC are looking to reduce the fleet by a carrier or two in the belief that the DF-21 will make it too dangerous for the ships even to get close to Chinese territorial waters.

– BBC – Satellite images show China is making progress on building an airstrip on a reef in disputed territory in the South China Sea.

– Office of Naval Intelligence – Now added to ONI’s report on “The PLA Navy: New Capabilities and Missions for the 21st Century” are posters detailing Chinese ships and aircraft, equipment, and leadership structure.

– Wall Street Journal – With tensions mounting over China’s island-building in the South China Sea, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence has published its first report on the Chinese navy since 2009. Here are five graphics that illustrate some its key findings.

– Aviation Week – As the U.S. takes sharper aim at the Asia-Pacific, China has American military vulnerabilities more squarely in its sights, according to regional geopolitical and military experts.