Andrew S. Erickson is Assistant Professor at the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI), Strategic Research Department, US Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.
The PLA Navy (PLAN)'s capabilities in key areas (assets, trained personnel, experience) are currently insufficient to support long-range sea lanes of communication (SLOC) defense missions. With sufficient effort, Beijing may eventually overcome these obstacles, but it would probably also have to acquire some form of overseas basing access, which its foreign policy still proscribes.
