China’s Maritime Strategy to Secure Its Future by Martin N Murphy

China’s Maritime Strategy to Secure Its Future by Martin N Murphy

This book examines China’s maritime strategy, which aims to dominate and leverage the world’s oceans to secure its national interests.

Offering a comprehensive assessment of China’s initiatives across the various domains of national power, the work addresses the various actors – countries, companies, councils, and commissions – involved in, and affected by, China’s machinations. This includes all the relevant regions, commercial sectors, legal frameworks, trade relationships, and distinct areas of competition that include military, diplomatic, economic, technological, and financial/foreign investment interactions. The book documents China’s efforts to coopt global “goods,” like reduction of carbon emissions, with unfair and even immoral practices that price Western competitors out of key markets, thereby establishing China as the near-sole provider of raw materials, manufacture, assemblage, and finished products made possible by its exploitation of the seas and sea-borne trade. It also documents how skillfully China weaves the threads of government, commerce, academia, private-sector research, finance, and military activities into a single tapestry of maritime domination. In sum, this book clearly conveys China’s methodical, persistent, and aggressive approach to securing its economic, political, and security interests associated with the world’s oceans and seas.

This book will be of interest to students of naval power, maritime security, Chinese politics, and international relations.

Martin N. Murphy is one of the world's leading experts on piracy and irregular warfare at sea, and has authored 40 publications that include: Piracy, Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare at Sea: Navies Confront the 21st Century (2015), Somalia: The New Barbary? Piracy and Islam in the Horn of Africa (2011), and Small Boats, Weak States, Dirty Money: Piracy & Maritime Terrorism in the Modern World (2009).

Dakota L. Wood, USMC (Ret) is Owner/CEO of Hot Gates Consulting, LLC, a boutique consultancy on national security matters. He is the author or editor of 11 books and has published nearly 100 papers and articles.

Bruce A. Elleman became the William V. Pratt Professor of International History at the U.S. Naval War College in 2013, retiring after a full career in 2024. He is the author/editor of over 38 books.