Notes from the Xiangshan Forum

In an effort to strengthen China’s regional leadership role and promote its new Asian security concept, China’s military convened the fifth Xiangshan Forum, November 20-22. Previously a venue held in alternate years for foreign scholars and the PLA to conduct exchanges on international security issues, this year’s conference was upgraded to an annual Track 1.5 […]

Reviewing the First Year of China’s ADIZ: A Japanese Perspective

When China’s Defense Ministry made an announcement of an “East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone” on November 23, 2013, the fundamental question was about its legal nature. The announcement provided that all aircraft, “regardless of its destination,” shall comply with the procedures within the ADIZ and that the Chinese military will take “defensive emergency […]

A Step Forward in US-China Military Ties: Two CBM Agreements

In 1998 the United States and China established the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA) to avoid accidents when their respective maritime and air forces operate in close proximity. Sixteen years of negotiations yielded little progress, until now. Two agreements on military confidence building measures were inked at the US-China summit in Beijing: notification of major […]

Transparency in Troubled Seas: Welcome to AMTI

Five years ago, it would have been difficult to imagine that eminent historians and political scientists would draw analogies between territorial issues in the East and South China Seas, and the Balkans on the eve of the First World War. Yet in the very recent past, maritime claims, resource competition, and contentious international arbitration in the […]