Chinese Defense Policy
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is experiencing a significant build-up allowing it to deploy increased capabilities in its regional environment and beyond, causing some tensions.
Deep Precision Strikes: A New Tool for Strategic Competition?
Reaching deep into the enemy’s system to weaken it and facilitate the achievement of operational or strategic objectives is a key goal for armed forces. What capabilities are required to conduct deep strikes in the dual context of high-intensity conflict and strengthened enemy defenses?
Modernizing the People's Liberation Army: The Human Factor
The tremendous demographic challenges facing China will not significantly affect the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the immediate future, but will become more problematic in the medium and long term. The rapid aging of the population and the resulting socio-economic imbalances will put pressure on defense budgets, military wages and the general attractiveness of the army. For the time being, the PLA’s primary goal in terms of human resources is to build a less oversized, more professional army, prepared for high-intensity combat.
Chinese Nuclear Force Modernization and Doctrinal Change
Dating back to the first test in 1964, the Chinese nuclear force modernization process is motivated by other nuclear powers’ modernization across the years, mostly from the United States and the Soviet Union, but also by domestic factors such as economic debates and tensions in the scientific community.
China’s Military Deployments in the Gulf of Aden: Anti-Piracy and Beyond
The reason for the deployment of a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) “anti-piracy task force” in the Gulf of Aden (GoA), a key area for the Chinese economy, was obvious in 2008. However, as the pirate activity has faded away since 2012, the objectives of the PLAN in GoA became unclear.
China's Fortress Fleet-in-Being and its Implications for Japan's Security
This paper analyzes the rise of maritime China and its implications for Japan’s security policy.
Deep Precision Strikes: A New Tool for Strategic Competition?
Reaching deep into the enemy’s system to weaken it and facilitate the achievement of operational or strategic objectives is a key goal for armed forces. What capabilities are required to conduct deep strikes in the dual context of high-intensity conflict and strengthened enemy defenses?
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Related centers and programs
European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC)
The European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC) is a gathering of China experts from a selection of European research institutes. It is devoted to the policy-oriented study of Chinese foreign policy and relations between China and European countries as well as China and the EU. It facilitates regular exchanges among participating researchers with a view to deepening the understanding within the European policy and research community and the broader public of how Europe, as a complex set of actors, relates with China and how China’s development and evolving global role is likely to impact the future of Europe. The network’s discussions and analyses take a decidedly ‘bottom-up’ approach, accounting for the various aspects of bilateral relations between European countries and China, and the points of convergence and divergence among EU member states in order to examine EU-China relations in a realistic and comprehensive way. The views presented in ETNC reports are the sole responsibility of the signed authors and do not in any way represent the views of all members of the ETNC, its participating institutions, nor the institutions with which the authors are affiliated.
Research Fellow, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri
Titre Axe de recherche
ETNC's History
The network was first launched on the initiative of the Elcano Royal Institute and the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) in Brussels on 6 November 2014. This meeting brought together experts from eleven EU member states, as well as observers from EU institutions. The ETNC members decided to meet in a different capital every six months and the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) joined Elcano and Ifri in their efforts to move the project forward. Meetings have been subsequently held at Elcano’s offices in Madrid (April 2015), the MERICS offices in Berlin (November 2015), the ESCCA School of Management in Budapest (April 2016), the Institute of International Relations in Prague (October 2016), the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki (May 2017), the Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome (October 2017), the University of Aveiro in Portugal (May 2018), the Latvian Institute of International Affairs/Riga Stradins University in Riga (October 2018), the Institute of International Economic Relations in Athens (May 2019), the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Clingendael, in The Hague (October 2019), the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) in Paris (May 2022), the MERICS offices in Berlin (November 2022), the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES) in Vienna (April 2023), the Swedish Institute for International Affairs/Swedish National China Centre in Stockholm (October 2023), the Institute of International Relations and Political Science (IIRPS) of Vilnius University in Lithuania (April 2024), and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in Sofia (October 2024). The network now counts members from 23 research institutes in as many countries, and each participates on the basis of equality.
ETNC strives for independent policy research and analysis and, since its inception, is entirely funded by its participating members. The topics treated in ETNC reports are debated and decided upon collectively by its members.
Titre Axe de recherche
List of Institutions Contributing to ETNC
- Austria : Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES)
- Belgium : Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations
- Bulgaria: Economic Policy Institute (EPI)
- Czech Republic : Institute of International Relations (IIR)
- Denmark : Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Estonia: International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS)
- Finland : Finnish Institute for International Affairs (FIIA)
- France : French Institute of International Relations (Ifri)
- Germany : Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS)
- Greece : Institute of International Economic Relations (IIER)
- Hungary : Corvinus University of Budapest
- Italy : Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI)
- Latvia : Latvian Institute of International Affairs (LIIA)
- Lithuania: Institute of International Relations and Political Science (IIRPS), Vilnius University
- The Netherlands : The Netherlands Institute of International Relations, ‘Clingendael’
- Norway : Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)
- Poland : Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM)
- Portugal : University of Aveiro
- Romania : Romanian Institute for the Study of the Asia-Pacific (RISAP)
- Slovakia : Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS)
- Slovenia: University of Ljubljana, School of Business and Economics
- Spain : Elcano Royal Institute
- Sweden : Swedish National China Centre, The Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI)
- Switzerland : Swiss Forum on Foreign Policy (Foraus)
- United Kindgdom : Lau China Institute, King's College London
Related research programs
Center for Asian Studies
Asia is a nerve center for multiple global economic, political and security challenges. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform for discussion on Asian issues to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.
The Center's research is organized along two major axes: relations between Asia's major powers and the rest of the world; and internal economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. The Center's research focuses primarily on China, Japan, India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, but also covers Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Pacific Islands.
The Centre for Asian Studies maintains close institutional links with counterpart research institutes in Europe and Asia, and its researchers regularly carry out fieldwork in the region.
The Center organizes closed-door roundtables, expert-level seminars and a number of public events, including an Annual Conference, that welcome experts from Asia, Europe and the United States. The work of Center’s researchers, as well as that of their partners, is regularly published in the Center’s electronic journal Asie.Visions.