AEI Warfare beneath the waves: The undersea domain in Asia 20141020

http://www.aei.org/events/2014/10/20/warfare-beneath-the-waves-the-undersea-domain-in-asia/

Warfare beneath the waves: The undersea domain in Asia○AEI (2014.10.20) http://www.aei.org/events/2014/10/20/warfare-beneath-the-waves-the-undersea-domain-in-asia/

Event Summary

Subsurface military capabilities are proliferating across the Asia-Pacific. Does this make the region more or less secure? Tom Mahnken of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies opened a panel discussion of this question and related topics at AEI on Monday, emphasizing that China’s developing navy poses the first challenge to US regional power projection since the Cold War. As a consequence, US policymakers are grappling with strategies to buy back America’s ability to project power in Asia.

The Heritage Foundation’s Dean Cheng continued the conversation by highlighting the fact that Chinese submarines will not fight alone; the Chinese military will effectively integrate submarines into a networked force of naval, air, and cyber assets. Cheng also placed China’s naval progress into historical context, explaining how Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms moved the majority of China’s industrial base out of the mountains and onto the eastern and southern seaboards.

Evan Montgomery of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments then shifted the discussion to Taiwan’s plan to build large diesel submarines, arguing that the Taiwanese defense ministry should purchase midget submarines because of their cost effectiveness and survivability in the event of an attack. Montgomery’s colleague Iskander Rehman closed the panel with an analysis of India’s strategic maritime concerns. He claimed that in the short term, India needs to field a credible undersea deterrent against Pakistan. In the long-run, the Indian government hopes to address China’s power-projection capabilities in the Indian Ocean.

Overall, panelists agreed that submarines will play an increasingly vital role in each Asian nation’s ability to protect its national interests.
--Eddie Linczer

Event Description

While Chinese surface vessels wrangle with their regional counterparts over disputed waters in the East and South China Seas, a quieter but potentially deadlier competition is taking place underwater. Subsurface military capabilities are proliferating across the Asia-Pacific, and while the US Navy has long dominated the undersea realm, American submarines now have plenty of company. What is driving this buildup, and does it make Asia more or less secure?

We welcome you to join us for a panel discussion of the undersea military competition occurring in Asia and what it means for the United States and its allies.

If you are unable to attend, we welcome you to watch the event live on this page. Full video will be posted 24 hours later.

Agenda

1:45 PM
Registration

2:00 PM
Panelists:
Dean Cheng, Heritage Foundation
Thomas Mahnken, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Evan Montgomery, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments
Iskander Rehman, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments

Moderator:
Michael Mazza, AEI

3:30 PM
Adjournment

Event Contact Information

For more information, please contact Eddie Linczer at eddie.linczer@aei.org, 202.862.7184.

Media Contact Information

For media inquiries, please contact MediaServices@aei.org, 202.862.5829.

Speaker Biographies

Dean Cheng is a senior research fellow in Chinese political and security affairs at the Heritage Foundation. He has written extensively on China's military doctrine, technological implications of its space program, and dual-use issues associated with the Communist nation's industrial and scientific infrastructure. He previously worked for 13 years as a senior analyst, first with Science Applications International Corporation and then with the China studies division of the Center for Naval Analyses. Before entering the private sector, Cheng studied China's defense-industrial complex for the congressional Office of Technology Assessment as an analyst in the International Security and Space Program. He has appeared on shows such as “John McLaughlin's One on One” and programs on National Public Radio, CNN, BBC, and ITN. He has been interviewed by or provided commentary for publications such as TIME, The Washington Post, Financial Times, Bloomberg News, Jane's Defense Weekly, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo, and Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.

Thomas Mahnken is a senior research professor at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, the Jerome E. Levy Chair of Economic Geography and National Security at the US Naval War College, and editor of the Journal of Strategic Studies. He previously served as US deputy assistant secretary of defense for policy planning, as staff director of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review Independent Panel's Force Structure and Personnel Sub-Panel, and on the staff of the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. In addition, Mahnken was a member of the Gulf War Air Power Survey, which was commissioned by the secretary of the US Air Force to examine the performance of US forces during the war with Iraq, and was a national security fellow at the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University.

Michael Mazza is a research fellow in foreign and defense policy studies at AEI, where he analyzes US defense policy in the Asia-Pacific region, Chinese military modernization, cross–Taiwan Strait relations, and Korean peninsula security. Apart from writing regularly for the AEIdeas blog, he is also program manager of AEI’s annual Executive Program on National Security Policy and Strategy. At AEI, Mazza has contributed to studies on American grand strategy in Asia, US defense strategy in the Asia-Pacific, and Taiwanese defense strategy. He has written op-eds for The Wall Street Journal Asia, Los Angeles Times, and The Weekly Standard, among others.

Evan Montgomery is a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA). At CSBA, his work covers a wide range of defense policy topics, including scenario development, the proliferation of nuclear weapons and advanced conventional capabilities, operational concepts and force structure options for the United States and America’s allies and security partners, and East Asia, South Asia, and Persian Gulf security issues. Montgomery is the author of several monographs in CSBA’s Strategy for the Long Haul series, including “Nuclear terrorism: Assessing the threat, developing a response,” “Reshaping America’s alliances for the long haul,” and “Defense planning for the long haul: Scenarios, operational concepts, and the future security environment.” He has also written a number of policy briefs and book chapters, and his work has been published in Foreign Affairs, International Security, Security Studies, and the Journal of Strategic Studies. In addition, Montgomery is the lead author or coauthor of numerous Pentagon Office of Net Assessment reports on defense strategy, geopolitics, and trends in future warfare.

Iskander Rehman is a research fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, where he focuses on US grand strategy, defense policy, and emerging security challenges in the Indo-Pacific. Before joining CSBA, Rehman was a Stanton Fellow in the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He has also held fellowships at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and at the Observer Research Foundation and Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, both in New Delhi. He has written a number of reports and book chapters and his work has been published in journals such as Asian Security and the Naval War College Review. Rehman’s research has also been featured in The Diplomat, The Guardian, The Economist, The National Interest, and the Financial Times.