BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies - ECPv6.15.12.2//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20240310T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20241103T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250414T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250414T161500
DTSTAMP:20260508T010208
CREATED:20250324T135522Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250324T135524Z
UID:39884-1744642800-1744647300@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Visiting Scholar Presentation featuring Andrew Erickson — China’s Naval Leadership: Corruption and Capabilities
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Andrew Erickson\, Professor of Strategy\, China Maritime Studies Institute\, U.S. Naval War College \n\n\n\nRegarding China’s ability to seize Taiwan or achieve other top-level military objectives\, does corruption matter? Since assuming power in 2012\, paramount leader Xi Jinping has officially purged seven sitting and retired members of the Central Military Commission (CMC)\, including two Vice Chairmen. Beyond the CMC\, many other military leaders have likewise fallen\, including more than a dozen senior People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officials and defense industry executives over the past two years. The fight against “corruption” appears to be intensifying in 2025\, with more shoes set to drop. Second-ranked CMC Vice Chairman General He Weidong has not appeared at two recent meetings at which his attendance would be expected. Despite PLA Navy (PLAN) Political Commissar Yuan Huazhi having an inherently high-profile public role\, he has not been seen or heard from publicly since 7 September 2024. Many in the media and beyond speculate that these purges are significantly disrupting and limiting China’s military capabilities.  \n\n\n\nThis presentation will examine politicized corruption-related removals within PLAN leadership specifically and argue in contrast that their imposition of costs regarding endemic behavior are fundamentally a speedbump at most\, rather than a showstopper. Related removals are neither an indicator of prohibitive service incompetence nor a self-defeating constraint on operational capabilities. The PLAN may be playing high-stakes musical chairs with its leadership\, but it has a deep enough talent pool to do so without prohibitive problems and enjoys substantive strengths in its own right. Regardless of corruption’s pervasive persistence\, cutting-edge ships and weapons systems regularly enter service and PLAN capabilities to employ them operationally continue to improve. Corruption may impose inefficiencies\, but does not curtail the PLAN’s rapid advances across the waterfront. \n\n\n\nAndrew S. Erickson is a Professor of Strategy in the U.S. Naval War College (NWC)’s China Maritime Studies Institute\, which he helped establish and has served as Research Director\, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He testifies periodically before Congress and briefs leading officials\, including the Secretary of Defense. Erickson helped to escort the Commander of China’s Navy on a visit to Harvard and subsequently to establish\, and to lead the first iteration of\, NWC’s first naval officer exchange program with China. He has received the Navy Superior Civilian Service Medal\, NWC’s inaugural Civilian Faculty Research Excellence Award\, and NBR’s inaugural Ellis Joffe Prize for PLA Studies. His research focuses on Indo-Pacific defense\, international relations\, technology\, and resource issues. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/visiting-scholar-presentation-featuring-andrew-erickson-chinas-naval-leadership-corruption-and-capabilities/
LOCATION:CGIS South\, Room S050\, 1730 Cambridge St\, Cambridge\, Massachusetts\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Special Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Erickson-180110-N-FC129-026-3-e1597252590898.jpeg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR