FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jacqline Barnes, (410) 295-1028, jbarnes@usni.org

“If you are going to read one book about the Chinese military, read this one.”
—The Atlantic

Combining a close knowledge of Asia and an ability

to tap Chinese-language sources with naval combat
experience and expertise in sea-power theory, the
authors assess how the rise of Chinese sea power
will affect U.S. maritime strategy in Asia. They
argue that China has laid the groundwork for a
sustained challenge to American primacy in
maritime Asia, and to defend this hypothesis they
look back to Alfred Thayer Mahan’s sea-power
theories, now popular with the Chinese. The book
considers how strategic thought about the sea shapes
Beijing’s deliberations and compares China’s
geostrategic predicament to that of the Kaiser’s
Germany a century ago. It examines the Chinese
navy’s operational concepts, tactics, and capabilities
and appraises China’s missile force. The authors
conclude that China now presents a challenge to
America’s strategic position of such magnitude that
Washington must compete in earnest.

Praise for RED STAR OVER THE PACIFIC:

“For many years now, James Holmes and Toshi

Yoshihara have been the go-to pair for both a
granular and strategic understanding of the
American-Chinese naval rivalry. Their new
edition of Red Star Over the Pacific, a seminal
work when first published, will be a requirement
for everybody in the field.”
—Robert D. Kaplan author of, The Return of Marco Polo’s World: War, Strategy, and
American Interests in the Twenty-first Century
 “This is must reading. In their landmark RED STAR OVER THE PACIFIC, Toshi Yoshihara and
James Holmes warned us Chinese sea power is here to stay and could veer toward aggression.
Their warning was prophetic. With this second edition they help us prepare for the competitive
future they foresaw.”
—Admiral Jim Stavridis, author of SEA POWER and Dean, Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy, Tufts University

“In RED STAR OVER THE PACIFIC (2010), James Holmes and Toshi Yoshihara presciently
postulated China’s game plan to become a serious oceangoing power. In this edition, they
meticulously analyze how since then, China is innovatively expanding its envelope of maritime
dominance in the Pacific. This is not to be missed. ”
—Admiral Nirmal Verma, former Chief of Indian Naval Staff and Chief of Naval
Operations Fellow, U.S. Naval War College

“Yoshihara and Holmes sounded an early alarm over China’s strategic maritime competition in
their seminal work, Red Star over the Pacific, 2nd Edition. Their prescient warning contributed to
the material shift in U.S. national security strategy in 2017 recognizing the risk and reality of
great power competition in the maritime domain in the Indo-Pacific. Their updated insights in the
Second Edition have implications for the evolution of U.S. maritime strategy, naval fleet
architecture, and joint forces doctrine for the U.S. and regional allies that will reverberate across
the global commons.”
—Philip M. Bilden, Member, Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel, Vice Chairman,
Naval War College Foundation

“Based on meticulous use of Chinese language and other such authoritative sources and using
Mahanian thinking as a frame of analysis, this book explains China’s naval rise rather than just
documents its latest ships and submarines. Setting the new Chinese navy firmly in its domestic
and international context, the authors dissect China’s naval aspirations and analyse their likely
success and strategic consequence. Anyone plotting responses to China’s naval rise must read this
excellent book.”
—Geoffrey Till, Professor Emeritus and Chairman of the Corbett Centre for Maritime
Policy, King's College London, and author of Seapower

Toshi Yoshihara is a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. He
formerly served as the John A. van Beuren Chair of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Naval War
College and visiting professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
Dr. Yoshihara holds a PhD from the Fletcher School.

James R. Holmes is the inaugural holder of the J. C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the
Naval War College and previously served on the faculty of the University of Georgia School of
Public and International Affairs. A former U.S. Navy surface warfare officer, he earned a PhD
from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.

NAVAL INSTITUTE PRESS | www.usni.org

Publication date: 15 December 2018
China & the Asia Pacific
6 x 9 in | 376 pp.
Hardcover & eBook
ISBN: 9781682472187 | $36.95