The Air Force retreats from studying China

Published September 30, 2026 5:00am ET | Updated September 30, 2026 7:27am ET



The United States finds itself in a new Cold War with an even more dangerous adversary: communist China. But Washington is woefully unprepared to counter Beijing.

On Sept. 22, the China Aerospace Studies Institute announced that the Air Force had decided to shut down the organization. The institute will continue to publish reports already in the pipeline, but “once all the civilians eventually depart, CASI will close.”

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