The Chinese Navy's Hidden European Past

My friends James Rogers and Luis Simon at European Geostrategy, an excellent blog devoted to European strategic culture and planning, just published my latest policy paper entitled "The Chinese Navy's Hidden European Past: How the Study of European History is Key to Understanding China's Naval Rise."

The paper looks at the history of three European powers – Ancient Rome, Post-Revolutionary France and Petrine Russia – before asking what their pasts can tell us about China’s maritime future. It argues that European history offers examples for Beijing’s sea-based future trajectory, and shows how a potentially more assertive Chinese naval capability in the decades ahead might be constrained. It also counsels that Europeans must not neglect their own naval power, lest they fade away like the European powers of the past.