Red Star Over The Pacific: China's Rise and Challenge to U.S. Maritime Strategy (Five Stars)

In the past, China's military technology was not a real threat to U.S. or Soviet interests. As recently as the 1980s the People's Liberation Army was largely an infantry force,  backed by towed artillery and using MiG-15 fighters for air cover. While it possessed nuclear weapons it maintained a modest number of missiles. Its navy was primarily concerned with shore security.

Not anymore.

The People's Liberation Army Navy today is rapidly becoming a force to be reckoned with. It is equipped with warships bristling with anti-ship missiles and new attack submarines that are hard to detect. The PLAN is also looking at how to break out of the US-lead "containment" created by the First and Second Island Chains which it sees surrounding it.

The authors do an excellent job of studying the published works of many of China's strategic thinkers and naval theorists. The development of Chinese capabilities has coincided with new ways of looking at how to use the sea weapons they now possess and how to apply historical lessons to China's strategic situation. China has not had an ocean-going fleet for centuries, and certainly not in one in the era of screw propulsion, big guns and missiles. The authors draw parallels between China's efforts to challenge the United States in the Pacific to Imperial Germany's attempt to challenge Great Britain's mastery of the Atlantic. While there are some parallels (China, like Germany, is building a fleet with technology which renders older vessels obsolete) there are differences too, that the United States ignores at its peril.

While no means an "easy read" this book is undoubtedly important for understanding where the strategic balance lays today in the Pacific. The only fault I find in it is a lack of maps and perhaps some graphics comparing Chinese and U.S.-Allied ship capabilities.