Joel Wuthnow

Dr. Joel Wuthnow is a Research Fellow in the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs, Institute for National Strategic Studies, at the National Defense University (NDU). Prior to joining NDU, he was a China analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, a post-doctoral fellow in the China and the World Program at Princeton University, and a pre-doctoral fellow at the Brookings Institution.

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Will PLA Modernization Continue Apace in Xi’s Second Decade?

09.20.2022 Joel Wuthnow

Compared to his predecessors, Xi Jinping has been relatively focused on military modernization, which he views as a prerequisite for achieving the “China Dream” of...

Publication China Brief China

A New Chinese National Security Bureaucracy Emerges

11.23.2021 Joel Wuthnow

Introduction An intriguing aspect of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s political consolidation was the establishment of a Central National Security Commission (CNSC; 中央国家安全委员会, Zhongyang guojia anquan...

Publication China Brief China and the Asia-Pacific

What I Learned From the PLA’s Latest Strategy Textbook

05.25.2021 Joel Wuthnow

Introduction In August 2020, China’s National Defense University (NDU) released a revised version of its Science of Military Strategy (战略学, zhanlüe xue) (SMS), a core...

Publication China Brief China

A New Step Forward in PLA Professionalization

03.15.2021 Joel Wuthnow

Introduction A linchpin of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)’s transformation into a “world-class military” is whether it can recruit, cultivate, and retain talent, especially among...

Publication China Brief China