Volume 63, Number 1 (2010) Winter

A plane captain “walks down” the wing of an F/A-18C Hornet of Strike Fighter Squadron 113 on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), operating in the Gulf of Oman in September 2008. This stringent safety inspection, conducted before and after flight operations, exemplifies the new practicalities that will face the navy of the People’s Republic of China if—as our lead article, by Professors Nan Li and Christopher Weuve, argues is likely—it decides to build and operate carriers of its own.