Paper Dragon
What does the battlefield performance of Chinese weapons exports actually tell us about China’s military capabilities — and where are observers drawing the wrong conclusions?
Are we learning the right lessons?
Paper Dragon is a CISES expert interview series examining the effectiveness of Chinese weapons exports and their wider strategic implications.
Across three conversations with leading specialists, the series asks what recent conflicts reveal — and do not reveal — about Chinese military technology, Beijing’s strategic calculus and the balance of military power in the Indo-Pacific.
Rather than treating individual battlefield outcomes as straightforward measures of Chinese capability, Paper Dragon examines the political, operational and strategic context behind them.
The Complete Series
Three expert perspectives on Chinese arms exports, military capability and the strategic conclusions being drawn from recent conflicts.
China’s Arms Exports: Are We Learning the Wrong Lessons?
Why Venezuela and Iran may be the wrong tests of Chinese weapons exports — and why the Pakistan–India case may tell us considerably more.
Did Venezuela Change China’s Strategic Calculus?
What US operations in Venezuela reveal about American capabilities, a Taiwan contingency and whether Beijing may reconsider its traditional approach to non-intervention.
China’s Weapons Failed in Iran. Or Did They?
What the performance of Chinese weapon systems in Venezuela and Iran reveals about the military balance in the Indo-Pacific — and the risks of strategic complacency.
Watch the complete series
All three Paper Dragon conversations are available together on YouTube.