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Articles by Eric Sayers
Don’t let China take over the cloud — US national security depends on it Original
Most Americans would assume Huawei was left for dead after the U.S. government led a global multi-pronged campaign against the company’s 5G business in 2019. However, in recent years Huawei has reinvented itself into, among other things, a leading cloud services provider (CSP). They are now expanding rapidly around the world, while other companies from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) like Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu are following suit to capture the global market.
Don’t let China take over the cloud — US national security depends on it
Most Americans would assume Huawei was left for dead after the U.S. government led a global multi-pronged campaign against the company’s 5G business in 2019. However, in recent years Huawei has reinvented itself into, among other things, a leading cloud services provider (CSP). They are now expanding rapidly around the world, while other companies from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) like Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu are following suit to capture the global market.
Don’t Let China Take Over the Cloud — US National Security Depends on It
Most Americans would assume Huawei was left for dead after the U.S. government led a global multi-pronged campaign against the company’s 5G business in 2019. However, in recent years Huawei has reinvented itself into, among other things, a leading cloud services provider (CSP). They are now expanding rapidly around the world, while other companies from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) like Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu are following suit to capture the global market.
Taiwan’s Big Stake in Washington’s Budget Battles
Passing twelve appropriations bills is essential for avoiding a government shutdown and a dangerous return of sequestration, which did so much damage to America’s military over the last decade. And as recent legislative action reveals, these bills are also critical for bolstering deterrence in the Taiwan Strait. After two years of debate, both House and Senate appropriators have for the first time approved legislation that would fund Foreign Military Financing grants, specifically for Taiwan.
Taiwan’s big stake in Washington’s budget battles
Passing twelve appropriations bills is essential for avoiding a government shutdown and a dangerous return of sequestration, which did so much damage to America’s military over the last decade. And as recent legislative action reveals, these bills are also critical for bolstering deterrence in the Taiwan Strait. After two years of debate, both House and Senate appropriators have for the first time approved legislation that would fund Foreign Military Financing grants, specifically for Taiwan.
DJI isn’t the only Chinese drone threat to US security. Meet Autel. Original
By now, most people have heard of the People’s Republic of China-based company Shenzhen DJI Sciences and Technologies Ltd. It isn’t hard to walk into any electronic store across the country and find DJI drones prominently displayed. PRC drones dominate more than 90% of the United States’ hobby drone market, 70% of the industrial drone market and over 80% of the first responder market, according to a whitepaper by the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International.
Peace in the Pacific: A Conversation with Former Indo-Pacific Commanders
First Name * Last Name * Email * Zip * Organization Position/Title Work Sector Phone Number The best companion to AEI events, AEI Today delivers more in-depth research, analysis, and scholarly debate on today’s pressing policy issues. Sign me up! The trajectory of the Indo-Pacific region will determine the peace and prosperity for many nations, including the United States.
Remarks and a Conversation with Amb. Nikki Haley on the Future of US-China Policy
Please note that this event is taking place virtually. This event has been postponed to Tuesday, June 27 at 10:30a.m. Submit questions to or on Twitter with #NewChinaPlaybook. China’s growing political, economic, and military threats remain the foremost challenges to US national security. How can the US maintain its competitive edge to counter China’s authoritarian rise? Where can Washington strengthen partnerships with key allies to bolster American posture in the Indo-Pacific?
How Congress Can Help Taiwan Under the New Budget Deal
A war with China over Taiwan sits at the convergence of the most likely and most dangerous potential scenarios threatening America’s national security. Recent wargames suggest the first few weeks of war would claim dozens of US ships, hundreds of aircraft, and as many as 10,000 casualties. Such a war—one of lethal intensity unseen since World War II—must be deterred and prevented. And the most effective means of doing so is ensuring that Taiwan can defend itself.
Science Policy After the COVID-19 Crisis
Submit questions to or on Twitter with #AEIonScience. The public health emergency has ended. COVID-19 is largely in the rearview mirror, but this monumental event has been one of the greatest health crises facing the US since the pandemic of 1918. What lessons can we learn by examining the carnage wreaked on the national fabric by this horrific pandemic? Unfortunately, the government has been slow to begin any stocktaking, leaving much of this work to be pursued by outside experts.
Peace in the Pacific: A Conversation with Former Indo-Pacific Commanders
Submit questions to . The trajectory of the Indo-Pacific region will determine the peace and prosperity for many nations, including the United States. Today, policymakers from the halls of Congress to the conference rooms of the Pentagon are determining what actions need to be taken to help maintain stability in the region. Please join AEI’s Eric Sayers and two former Indo-Pacific combatant commanders, Adm. Philip S. Davidson (ret.) and Adm. Harry B.
Japan’s Shift to War Footing
Throughout the Cold War, the United States and Japan focused on the threat from the Soviet Union, but with tensions increasing around Taiwan, Tokyo has turned to its south, adopting principles that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushed for before his death. This week’s events are the latest in this trend, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Washington marks a significant change in the U.S.-Japan alliance.
Japan’s Shift to War Footing
Throughout the Cold War, the United States and Japan focused on the threat from the Soviet Union, but with tensions increasing around Taiwan, Tokyo has turned to its south, adopting principles that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushed for before his death. This week’s events are the latest in this trend, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Washington marks a significant change in the U.S.-Japan alliance.
Congress Must Act to Boost Combat-Credible Airpower in Indo-Pacific
It is hardly news that for the last decade the Pentagon has fallen short of its strategic ambitions in the Indo-Pacific. Still, it is quite conspicuous when evidence of that “say-do gap” emerges within 24 hours of the publication of the Pentagon’s most important strategic document. Last week, the Pentagon’s new National Defense Strategy declared that China is the “pacing challenge” of this “decisive decade” while citing posture as a key element of deterring Chinese aggression.
Congress must act to boost combat-credible air power in Indo-Pacific Original
It is hardly news that for the last decade the Pentagon has fallen short of its strategic ambitions in the Indo-Pacific. Still, it is quite conspicuous when evidence of that “say-do gap” emerges within 24 hours of the publication of the Pentagon’s most important strategic document. Last week, the Pentagon’s new National Defense Strategy declared that China is the “pacing challenge” of this “decisive decade” while citing posture as a key element of deterring Chinese aggression.
1/12/23 National Security News and. Commentary
Informal Institute for National Security Thinkers and Practitioners Quotes of the Day: 1. Ukraine: WAR BULLETIN January 10, 6.00 pm EST and Ukraine's Ten Steps for Peace 2. RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, JANUARY 11, 2023 3. Congress announces commission to review National Defense Strategy 4. Three steps toward a ‘whole of nation’ approach for national security 5. Gallagher: Time to Push Back on CCP Aggression in Bipartisan Fashion 6. New US Congress agrees on one thing: China threat 7.
Minilateral Deterrence in the Indo-Pacific
Minilaterals and Deterrence: A Critical New Nexus Arzan Tarapore and Brendan Taylor Deterrence in the Indo-Pacific Oriana Skylar Mastro A Strategy of Distribution for Addressing the PLA of 2025–30 Eric Sayers A New Strategic Minilateralism in the Indo-Pacific Kei Koga Fit for Purpose: Can Southeast Asian Minilateralism Deter? Evan A. Laksmana Signals, Deterrence, and the Quad Ketian Zhang The Quad as a Security Actor Tanvi Madan Arzan Tarapore is the South Asia Research Scholar at the Walter H.
Send More Aid to Taiwan, Before It’s Too Late
There are decades when nothing happens. And there are weeks when decades happen. Vladimir Lenin may not have said that. But Vladimir Putin made it a reality. In this compressed chapter in history, the United States must respond urgently to one crisis while acting prudently to prevent another. A spending bill to be passed by Congress by March 11 should not only include support for Ukraine’s brave defense against Putin’s invasion.
Eric Sayers & Ivan Kanapathy Foreign Policy February 17, 2022 A slew of new measures are fundamentally transforming economic relations. Read Full Article »
America Is Showering China With New Restrictions
In recent years, Washington’s China policies have expanded rapidly into technology sectors such as telecommunications, semiconductors, data security, and financial services. Growing bipartisan concern about Beijing’s actions and intentions have fueled these developments, with little difference between the Trump and Biden administrations or between the White House and Congress.
Dustin Walker
Dustin Walker is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on US defense policy and strategic affairs in the Indo-Pacific and Europe. Concurrently, Mr. Walker is working in the private sector on applications in high-end warfighting environments and software solutions for Joint All-Domain Command and Control. Earlier, Mr. Walker served as a professional staff member on the Senate Committee on Armed Services, where he ended up as the lead adviser to Sens.
Ending Strategic Ambiguity Won’t Help Taiwan
Visiting Fellow, American Enterprise Institute December 2, 2021 07:00 PM ET Commentary China America’s position in the Indo-Pacific is tied in many ways to stability across the Taiwan strait, and China’s growing ability to seize Taiwan is not a problem we can put off. We need a strategy to heighten Beijing’s perception of the risks of taking the island, and we need to deploy it within two to three years.
Countering China’s Military Challenge, Today
In recent years, Defense Department planners have been intent to focus on the military challenge China will pose in the 2030s, when emerging technologies and military hardware promise to offer new operational capabilities to close the military gap with China. However, Washington would be falling into a temporal planning trap if it only organized to address the China military dilemma of 2035.
Thoughts on the Unfolding U.S.-Chinese Competition
Eric Sayers War on the Rocks February 9, 2021 A decade ago, when I was a junior staffer on Capitol Hill, the congressman I worked for pushed the House Armed Services Committee to launch a series of oversight hearings focused on China’s military modernization. Hearings on Afghanistan and Iraq were happening monthly — if not weekly — but each year only a single posture hearing with the commander of then-Pacific Command was reserved to discuss the regional military balance.
Thoughts on the Unfolding U.S.-Chinese Competition: Washington’s Policy Towards Beijing Enters Its Next Phase
A decade ago, when I was a junior staffer on Capitol Hill, the congressman I worked for pushed the House Armed Services Committee to launch a series of oversight hearings focused on China’s military modernization. Hearings on Afghanistan and Iraq were happening monthly — if not weekly — but each year only a single posture hearing with the commander of then-Pacific Command was reserved to discuss the regional military balance.
Japan Remains the Cornerstone of the Pacific
To deter Chinese aggression in East Asia, Washington has no more capable and reliable ally than Japan.
Countering Beijing’s Fused Overseas Strategy
A growing chorus of voices in the United States advocates for a reduction in overseas posture, just as the CCP is doing the opposite. Across the world, the CCP is aggressively expanding its posture and power. While it does so through some traditional military means, much of the CCP’s forward positioning assumes a civilian and commercial character. Such positioning can appear benign or unrelated to military power. However, appearances can be deceiving.
Standing With the Free People of Taiwan
Advocates for American “restraint” and withdrawal often attribute international tension to the policies and actions of the United States, while ignoring the ideological predispositions, motivations, and actions of others. Nowhere is this dynamic more evident – or more consequential – than in the Taiwan Strait. If the United States is to defend its core interests in Asia and avoid war with China, leaders in Washington must be clear-eyed about developments related to Taiwan – and act accordingly.
Eric Sayers
Eric Sayers is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on Asia-Pacific defense policy and strategy and US-China technology policy. Mr. Sayers is concurrently a managing director at Beacon Global Strategies. Before joining AEI, Mr. Sayers served as a special assistant to the commander at US Pacific Command, where he advised Admiral Harry Harris on strategic engagements and special initiatives in the Indo-Pacific theater.
‘Collective resilience’ is the way to address China challenge
China has been quick to use its rising economic strength to punish countries that defy it. That capacity for coercion will only grow as China masters new technologies and puts itself and its companies at the heart of the increasingly interconnected digital world. Tokyo, Washington and like-minded governments are trying to blunt China’s ability to bend them to its will. A strategy of “collective resilience” can be an effective counter to this mounting pressure.
‘Collective resilience’ is the way to address China challenge
China has been quick to use its rising economic strength to punish countries that defy it. That capacity for coercion will only grow as China masters new technologies and puts itself and its companies at the heart of the increasingly interconnected digital world. Tokyo, Washington and like-minded governments are trying to blunt China’s ability to bend them to its will. A strategy of “collective resilience” can be an effective counter to this mounting pressure.
Make China the Explicit Priority in the Next NDS
Mark Montgomery & Eric Sayers, Center for a New American Security July 30, 2020 For the sake of bringing greater clarity to the application of the department's time, energy, and budget resources, NDS 2022 should go further than its predecessor by being explicit that China is the principal priority, while Russia is the focus of the secondary effort.
Make China the Explicit Priority in the Next NDS
The Bottom Line The new NDS is an opportunity for the next Secretary of Defense in January 2021 to do three things: Further deepen and explicitly state the current NDS’s sound prioritization of China. Establish clear benchmarks and explicit details of implementation for both capability investments and posture enhancements. Identify areas of opportunity when it comes to dealing with the gray zone and expanding cooperation with new partners.
The Case for a Pacific Deterrence Initiative
When war broke out in Ukraine in 2014 the Department of Defense moved swiftly to invest billions in near-term enhancements in Europe to address growing military-operational shortfalls.
The Case for a Pacific Deterrence Initiative
When war broke out in Ukraine in 2014 the Department of Defense moved swiftly to invest billions in near-term enhancements in Europe to address growing military-operational shortfalls.
Addressing America’s Operational Shortfall in the Pacific | RealClearDefense
Mark Montgomery & Eric Sayers, War on the Rocks June 18, 2019 The Trump administration has made a number of strong statements about the need for the United States to do more to prepare for great power competition with China. Officials have effectively set the stage for 2019 as a year in which critical progress must occur with regard to implementing posture, budgets, and policies that counter Chinese efforts to displace the United States in the Western Pacific.
Addressing America’s Operational Shortfall in the Pacific
The Trump administration has made a number of strong statements about the need for the United States to do more to prepare for great power competition with China. Officials have effectively set the stage for 2019 as a year in which critical progress must occur with regard to implementing posture, budgets, and policies that counter Chinese efforts to displace the United States in the Western Pacific.
Addressing America's Operational Shortfall in the Pacific
June 18, 2019 By Mark Montgomery and Eric Sayers Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Print The Trump administration has made a number of strong statements about the need for the United States to do more to prepare for great power competition with China. Officials have effectively set the stage for 2019 as a year in which critical progress must occur with regard to implementing posture, budgets, and policies that counter Chinese efforts to displace the United States in the Western Pacific.
America and Japan in a Post-INF World
How long do estimates suggest it would take the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force to destroy all major U.S. air, naval, and logistics bases in Japan? Some have argued that the answer is not days, but hours. Let’s come back to this though, after first setting the record straight on how the U.S.-Japan alliance has found itself in such a dire position.
America and Japan in a Post-INF World
March 08, 2019 By Eric Sayers and Sugio Takahashi Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Print How long do estimates suggest it would take the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force to destroy all major U.S. air, naval, and logistics bases in Japan? Some have argued that the answer is not days, but hours. Let’s come back to this though, after first setting the record straight on how the U.S.-Japan alliance has found itself in such a dire position.
Time to Make Good on the U.S.-Philippine Alliance
A storm is brewing in America’s oldest security alliance in the Indo-Pacific and the administration needs to act quickly to head it off. On December 20, Philippine Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana called for a review of the provisions of the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between Washington and Manila.
Assessing America’s Indo-Pacific Budget Shortfall
Budgets are policy in Washington. Setting new trends in Pentagon and State Department funding is a tall order, so when they do emerge, they are the strongest indication of a growing consensus within an administration and Congress of shifting foreign policy priorities.
Asia Needs Pence’s Reassurance
In Asia, anxieties about the United States’ role in an increasingly China-centered world are palpable. While some fear that the United States is retreating from its international obligations, other worry that it is bent on instigating conflict.
Assessing America's Indo-Pacific Budget Shortfall
Budgets are policy in Washington. Setting new trends in Pentagon and State Department funding is a tall order, so when they do emerge, they are the strongest indication of a growing consensus within an administration and Congress of shifting foreign policy priorities.
Time for a 21st-century PH-US alliance
Of all the alliances in the Asia-Pacific today, there is none more underappreciated than that of the Philippines and the United States. And there is no line that better captures the essence of this century-old alliance than Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr’s immortal refrain: “The more it changes, the more it’s the same thing.” Over the past two years, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly threatened to downgrade, if not sever, bilateral strategic relations with the United States.
Exiting the Russia nuclear treaty impacts military strategy in Asia
President Trump Donald John TrumpJim Carrey lays into Trump at LA gala: Shamelessness is not 'a superpower' Suspected Pittsburgh shooter charged with 29 counts Rand Paul blasts Saudi Arabia at rally with Trump Jr. MORE recently announced that the United States will soon exit the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia. This will open significant options for the United States to adjust its military posture in the Asia Pacific.
Eric Sayers
Eric Sayers is a Senior Adjunct Fellow for the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Throughout his career, Mr. Sayers has worked on a wide variety of national security issues, including defense policy, national security strategy, Indo-Pacific alliance integration, defense budget formulation, military innovation, and congressional affairs. He has significant regional experience in Northeast and Southeast Asia.
Time to Launch a Combined Maritime Task Force for the Pacific
On his way to the Shangri-la Dialogue this week, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis recited familiar talking points to discuss how the United States would keep up a “steady drumbeat” of naval exercises and freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea.
Time to Launch a Combined Maritime Task Force for the Pacific
On his way to the Shangri-la Dialogue this week, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis recited familiar talking points to discuss how the United States would keep up a “steady drumbeat” of naval exercises and freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea.
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