Since the collapse of Soviet naval power China has become the operator of the world's largest tactical submarine fleet. As the world wonders what Beijing intends to do with its increasingly powerful and effective undersea warfare capacity, what does this means for strategic stability in East Asia? This book addresses these questions by exploring similarities between China's strategic outlook today and that of earlier continental powers whose submarine fleets challenged dominant maritime powers for regional hegemony. Using insights from classical naval strategic theory it examines Beijing's strategic logic in making tactical submarines the keystone of China's naval force structure and investigates the influence of Soviet naval strategy and ancient Chinese military thought on the PLA Navy's strategic culture. It finally contends that China's increasingly capable submarine fleet could play a key role in Beijing's use of force to resolve the Taiwan issue. With attention focused on China's missile build-up opposite Taiwan, this timely volume reminds us that there is real danger in underestimating the potential of the PLA Navy's submarines to destabilize any future Taiwan Strait crisis.

This book will be of foremost interest to students of Chinese politics, Asian Security Studies and international relations in general, as well as to professionals in these fields.