Strategic Direction of the Chinese Navy: Capability and Intent Assessment by Kamlesh K. Agnihotri

Rarely do naval practitioners combine capability and strategy cogently. They are good at explaining technical terminology and its applicability, but insufficient in expounding strategy and analysis. They consider capability in terms of war-oriented applicability, rather than the intention, motivation and strategic outreach of such capability. But if a naval practitioner focuses on strategy and its commensurate capability, he can relatively predict the impact of such capability. At the same time, if the book is about China, then most Indian analysts opt to rely on American analysts who are Mandarin experts and have access to firsthand information from the government sources. However, for an Indian analyst, it will be a cumbersome effort to analyse the Chinese Navy and its capabilities as the Americans do. The book, Strategic Direction of the Chinese Navy: Capability and Intent Assessment, by Kamlesh K. Agnihotri, who researched for half a decade on Chinese Navy at a premier maritime think tank in New Delhi, is a rare blend of analysis of capability and strategy of the Chinese Navy for a wider audience.