This is the first comprehensive study of the maritime aspects of China's national power. Drawing from extensive Chinese source materials and a large volume of recently declassified US. intelligence reports, Commander Muller looks at China's rise to strategic and economic power at sea since 1945. For each of three major periods in modern Chinese history (1945 to the Sino-Soviet break, 1960 to the Lin Biao incident, and 1971 to the present), Commander Muller examines the evolution of Chinese maritime power from five perspectives: He recounts naval history in detail; analyzes naval strategy; reveals the key role of maritime economics; dissects internal navy politics; and addresses China's maritime foreign relations. A final chapter considers the implications of China's new status as a maritime power with regard to a possible Sino-Soviet war, the Taiwan issue, economic growth, and regional territorial conflict.

This book examines the evolution of Chinese maritime power for each of three major periods in modem Chinese history: 1945 to the Sino-Soviet break, 1960 to the Lin Biao incident, and 1971 to the present.