America’s Forgotten War & Confronting China Today
Study the Korean War and the lessons it offers for U.S.-China competition.
July 31–August 4, 2023
Washington, DC
Since the end of the Cold War, China has embarked on a comprehensive military modernization program to prepare the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for the possibility of modern great-power warfare. This effort was catalyzed by Beijing’s shock over the collapse of the Soviet Union and the lopsided U.S. victory over Iraq in the first Gulf War. Beijing is preparing for a high-tech war, leveraging information technology, artificial intelligence, and possibly, biotechnology to gain advantages in future conflict. The PLA trains for war over Taiwan, against India, and against potential enemies on the Korean peninsula and in the South and East China Seas. While Beijing has not yet decided to use force to further its strategic objectives, coercion and possible escalation to full-scale conflict are key pillars of its grand strategy, driving its technological modernization strategy and increasingly, its economic statecraft.
Warfare is not foreign to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Indeed, it is deeply embedded in its historical DNA. The CCP came to power in a violent struggle against the KMT and the Japanese who had invaded the mainland. After prevailing in the Chinese Civil War, the CCP waged war against U.S. and allied forces in the Korean War, supported the North Vietnamese in their war against the U.S., fought a series of battles against India, invaded Vietnam to prevent unification, and has used violent coercion against its Southeast Asian neighbors to further its territorial ambitions.
Led by Asia Studies expert and former Defense official Dan Blumenthal, this seminar will examine China’s past and current use of force in the context of its strategic culture and traditions, and study the CCP’s military campaigns against its neighbors. Fellows will examine China’s modern military history and current planning to assess the threat of a Taiwan invasion, the CCP’s plans for future warfare, and the possibility of hot war between China and the U.S.
Image: J-11B fighter jet conducts tactical maneuver, Chinese People’s Liberation Army
Dan Blumenthal & H.R. McMaster on the China Nightmare
This course is part of our Security Studies Program. Fellows may apply to one or more seminars, as fits their interest and schedule.
Daniel Blumenthal is the Director of Asian Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on East Asian security issues and Sino-American relations. Mr. Blumenthal has both served in and advised the U.S. government on China issues for over a decade.
Daniel Blumenthal is the Director of Asian Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on East Asian security issues and Sino-American relations. Mr. Blumenthal has both served in and advised the U.S. government on China issues for over a decade.
From 2001 to 2004, he served as senior director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia at the Department of Defense. Additionally, he served as a commissioner on the congressionally-mandated U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission since 2006-2012, and held the position of vice chairman in 2007. He has also served on the Academic Advisory Board of the congressional U.S.-China Working Group. Mr. Blumenthal is the coauthor of An Awkward Embrace: The United States and China in the 21st Century (AEI Press, November 2012).
He holds a B.A. from Washington University, an M.A. from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and a J.D. from Duke Law School.
Mike Gallagher
Congressman Mike Gallagher served seven years on active duty as a Human Intelligence/Counterintelligence Officer and Regional Affairs Officer for the Middle East and North Africa, earning the rank of Captain. He was recently selected to serve as Chairman of the Select Committee on China.
Aaron MacLean
Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Previously, he was senior foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Aaron served on active duty as a U.S. Marine for seven years, deploying to Afghanistan as an infantry officer in 2009–2010.
Vance Serchuk
Vance Serchuk is Executive Director of the KKR Global Institute and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Serchuk served for six years as the senior national security advisor to Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Connecticut).
Daniel Blumenthal
Daniel Blumenthal is the Director of Asian Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on East Asian security issues and Sino-American relations. Mr. Blumenthal has both served in and advised the U.S. government on China issues for over a decade.
Christian Brose
Christian Brose is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Head of Strategy at Anduril Industries, prior to which he served as staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He was also responsible for leading the production, negotiation, and passage of four National Defense Authorization Acts, which set policy and authorized spending for all U.S. national defense activities.
Matthew Kroenig
Matthew Kroenig is a Professor in the Department of Government and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. A 2019 study in Perspectives on Politics ranked him as one of the top 25 most-cited political scientists of his generation. He has served in several positions in the U.S. Department of Defense and the intelligence community in the Bush and Obama administrations.
H.R. McMaster
H. R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Previously, he served as the 26th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs and as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for 34 years before retiring as a Lieutenant General. He is author of Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World.
Matt Turpin
Matthew Turpin is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he specializes in U.S. policy toward the People’s Republic of China, economic statecraft, and technology innovation. He is also a senior advisor at Palantir Technologies.
Eric S. Edelman
Eric S. Edelman is a Counselor at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and the Roger Hertog Distinguished Practitioner-in-Residence at the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins. He has served as U.S. ambassador to the Republics of Finland and Turkey.