China's Use of Armed Coercion: To Win Without Fighting

Abstract: Author James A. Siebens and colleagues draw lessons about China's use of military and paramilitary forces to coerce its neighbors, especially in the past two decades, to gain insight about China's strategic intentions and approaches to the use of force in the future. This volume is intended to provide guidance to government officials, legislators, students of international affairs, and anyone concerned with US-China relations about the ways, means, and ends of China's use of its armed forces to deter its adversaries, promote its interests, and assert itself in regional geopolitical competition. At a time when the United States is confronting the need to compete with a rising China while avoiding war, it is essential to understand how America's "pacing threat" uses its armed forces short of war.

Bio: James A. Siebens is a Fellow with Stimson Center's Reimagining U.S. Grand Strategy program, where he leads the Defense Strategy and Planning project. He is the editor of China's Use of Armed Coercion: To Win Without Fighting (Routledge 2023), a study on China's use of military and paramilitary forces for purposes of coercion. He is also co-editor of Military Coercion and U.S. Foreign Policy: The Use of Force Short of War (Routledge 2020), a book on U.S. strategy and military operations since the end of the Cold War. He is also affiliated with Stimson's Cyber program and Russia program. His research focuses on grand strategy, military coercion, and gray zone conflict. Mr. Siebens previously served as a Research Associate and Special Assistant to the President and CEO at the Stimson Center. Prior to joining Stimson, he was a Data Analyst at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland, where he contributed to a DoD-sponsored study on gray zone conflict.