China's Rising Sea Power The PLA Navy's Submarine Challenge

Since the collapse of Soviet naval power China has become the operator of the world's largest tactical submarine fleet. As the world wonders what Beijing intends to do with its increasingly powerful and effective undersea warfare capacity, what does this means for strategic stability in East Asia? This book addresses these questions by exploring similarities between China's strategic outlook today and that of earlier continental powers whose submarine fleets challenged dominant maritime powers for regional hegemony. Using insights from classical naval strategic theory it examines Beijing's strategic logic in making tactical submarines the keystone of China's naval force structure and investigates the influence of Soviet naval strategy and ancient Chinese military thought on the PLA Navy's strategic culture. It finally contends that China's increasingly capable submarine fleet could play a key role in Beijing's use of force to resolve the Taiwan issue. With attention focused on China's missile build-up opposite Taiwan, this timely volume reminds us that there is real danger in underestimating the potential of the PLA Navy's submarines to destabilize any future Taiwan Strait crisis.
This book will be of foremost interest to students of Chinese politics, Asian Security Studies and international relations in general, as well as to professionals in these fields.

Thisis a fascinating insight into China’s strategic abilities and ambitions, probing the real depths of its plans for the twenty-first century. China's Rising Sea Power explores similarities between China’s strategic outlook today and that of earlier continental powers whose submarine fleets challenged dominant maritime powers for regional hegemony: Germany in two World Wars and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Using insights from classical naval strategic theory, Peter Howarth examines Beijing’s strategic logic in making tactical submarines the keystone of China’s naval force structure. He also investigates the influence of Soviet naval strategy and ancient Chinese military thought on the PLA Navy’s strategic culture, contending that China’s increasingly capable submarine fleet could play a key role in Beijing’s use of force to resolve the Taiwan issue. This book will be of great interest to all students and scholars of security and strategic studies, Asian politics, geopolitics and military (naval) strategy.

Introduction 1. China’s Tactical Submarine Fleet 2. The Geopolitical Context 3. China’s New Maritime Strategy 4. Sea Control in the Western Pacific 5. Maritime Strategic Theory and the Logic of China’s Submarine Fleet 6. Geography, Narrow Seas and Submarine Terrain 7. Disputing U.S. Command of the China Seas 8. The Universal and the Particular in Strategic Logic 9. Influence of the Soviet Experience on the PRC’s Maritime Strategy 10. Chinese Strategic Culture – Indigenous Elements 11. Chinese Strategic Culture, Submarines and Prospects for War in the Taiwan Strait 12. Conclusion

Introduction 1. China’s Tactical Submarine Fleet 2. The Geopolitical Context 3. China’s New Maritime Strategy 4. Sea Control in the Western Pacific 5. Maritime Strategic Theory and the Logic of China’s Submarine Fleet 6. Geography, Narrow Seas and Submarine Terrain 7. Disputing U.S. Command of the China Seas 8. The Universal and the Particular in Strategic Logic 9. Influence of the Soviet Experience on the PRC’s Maritime Strategy 10. Chinese Strategic Culture – Indigenous Elements 11. Chinese Strategic Culture, Submarines and Prospects for War in the Taiwan Strait 12. Conclusion