China Maritime Studies Institute Celebrates 20 Years with Lecture by Former Chief of Naval Operations, Panel Discussion

The U.S. Naval War College (NWC) celebrated the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies’ (CNWS) China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) on Thursday, Sept. 24, with a lecture by retired U.S. Navy Adm. Gary Roughead and subsequent panel discussion.

“The world-class experts at our China Maritime Studies Institute have been leading international discourse for two decades,” said NWC President Rear Adm. Darryl Walker. “The research and analysis conducted by the CMSI team over the years has been foundational not only to the greater public understanding of geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific region, but more importantly to the planning and decision-making of our senior-most military, civilian and allied leaders.”

“Over its 20 years of work, CMSI has become an indispensable resource that places the U.S. Naval War College at the center of some of the most important conversations in the world,” he continued.

Roughead served as Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) from 2007 to 2011, and had previously served as commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command and U.S. Pacific Fleet. Joining Roughead as speakers and panelists at the Thursday event were former CMSI Director Dr. Peter Dutton and current Director and retired U.S. Navy Capt. Christopher Sharman.

“We’re showing the legacy of CMSI, and how we’ve addressed policy needs and national security priorities over the years,” Sharman said. “We’re letting both the student body and the faculty know what we’re doing, the importance our research has had and how we’re a resource not only to commanders across the Pacific, but also to the teaching and learning communities here at the war college.”

Initially a self-organized group of four faculty members with expertise on China, then-Provost Dr. James Giblin – with support from then-President Rear Adm. Jacob Shuford – established CMSI within CNWS’ Strategic Research Department on Oct. 1, 2004. Founding member Dr. Andrew Erickson wrote in a history of the institute that the U.S. Navy followed suit and designated CMSI an official Navy program, the first service-level China center under the Department of Defense, exactly two years later.

In addition to Sharman and Erickson, CMSI currently consists of associate professors Ryan Martinson and Ian Easton, as well as senior researcher and retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Daniel Caldwell.

“As the Pacific Fleet commander, as CNO, the Naval War College was top of mind for me,” Roughead told a full Mahan Hall reading room Thursday, adding: “As I walk through the halls of the Naval War College, it has been, it is, and it must remain the intellectual center of gravity for our Navy, and a global touchstone for naval and maritime thought.

“The small band of scholars here in Newport punches far above its weight,” he later continued. “CMSI gave us deeper insight into the drivers of China’s maritime ambitions through their rigorous analysis and not-superficial means. Their secret sauce was, and remains, the team’s focus, intellect and instincts on what is consequential, and the collaboration they employ among China analysts, linguists and practitioners.”

The institute’s personnel use Chinese-language sources – official documents, journals and reports – to generate scholarly research, translations, books, monographs and other products to inform and advise senior U.S. military leaders and national security decision makers.

Among those oft-cited publications, in 2024, was the eighth edition in the CMSI Studies in Chinese Maritime Development series titled Chinese Amphibious Warfare: Prospects for a Cross-Strait Invasion. The volume was named the Samuel B. Griffith Foundation’s 2025 Publication of the Year and selected for the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps Professional Reading Program’s 2025 and 2026 Reading Lists.

“The China Maritime Studies Institute is at its best and strongest when it’s engaging across the Navy,” Dutton said. “Especially with Navy leadership, as I mentioned to Adm. Roughead, to answer the questions that you and your staff don’t have time to answer, to begin to pull the thread at those things that are at the back of your mind, that you’re trying to sort out. … Here in Newport, the time, the skill and the structure exists.”

Sharman said the CMSI faculty’s ability to cut through language and access barriers to analyze the Chinese forces’ writings allows them to uniquely contextualize data from other sources on military capabilities, technology and tactics.

“Having a deep understanding – built up over decades of research – of strategy and where China is trying to take things gives us a cutting-edge angle,” Sharman said.

The institute also maintains a robust event schedule, anchored by a biennial conference, last held in May of 2025 with a focus on assessing human factors in China’s military maritime forces. CMSI’s May 11-12, 2027 conference is scheduled to be titled “Military-Civil Fusion at Sea: China’s Integrated Advantage?”

Dutton said CMSI has adapted over the years to ensure its products and events reflect the country’s needs and priorities at any given time.

“Your successes are based on your agility – the agility of this organization to meet the strategic ends of the time,” he said. “Agility is important to meet the strategic imperative of the day.”

Established in 1884, NWC informs today’s decision-makers and educates tomorrow’s leaders by providing educational experiences and learning opportunities that develop their ability to hedge aggressively, innovate continuously, fight distributively, delegate confidently, and command with clarity within complex battlespaces.