Richard D. Fisher, Jr.

By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. A naval arms race is now underway across the Taiwan Strait that has wider implications for the United States and its Asian allies. While the

By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. A long awaited report assessing the real extent, plus the potential for danger to the United States from China's ongoing military modernization has been released

The vast weight of reporting thus far on the origins of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) points to a mutation of the coronavirus, which causes the common cold. This

By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. On March 20, Taiwan's Ministry of Defense disclosed in a Legislative Yuan hearing that it had sent a "special military team" to the Middle East

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has a number of sound strategic and political reasons for trying to shift its previous army-dominated defense priorities to

In an effort to counter the continued build-up of China's offensive missile and air power, Taiwan is again considering developing its own "active defense"--that is, the ability to attack select

In the 1990s, China had no choice in its quest to modernize its military but to import entire weapons systems. And the imports have continued. But total reliance on imports

A new Department of Defense report, issued on July 12, on the growing power of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) signals a key shift in Washington's willingness to identify China

China's communist leadership has long anticipated that to militarily subdue democratic Taiwan it will first need to win a battle against the United States. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is

By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. China's recent successful third uninhabited test of its Shenzhou manned space capsule serves to highlight the political, military and diplomatic agendas of its manned space

By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. China's new ex-Soviet, ex-Ukrainian aircraft carrier is now in a Dalian navy shipyard. Could the partially completed Kuznetsov-class carrier Varyag become the first aircraft carrier

By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) signed the new year in with a January 3 contract for two Russian Project 956EM Sovremenny class destroyers to

By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. China Brief is pleased to present the first in what will be a series of occasional interviews with Asian leaders. When China Brief's managing editor

By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. Newspaper reports from December 3 noted that in one of its few acts of intimidation before the December 1 Taiwan elections, the People's Liberation Army

By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. On September 30 the U.S. Department of Defense released its long-awaited Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), a document that been used by successive administrations to convey

By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. While the United States is correct to seek China's assistance in what will be a long war against terrorism, it should harbor no illusions that

By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. It is increasingly evident that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) is devoting considerable resources to the research and development of advanced high-technology weaponry. An apparent

By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. President George W. Bush's decision to seek a European conventional submarine design to sell to Taiwan, and the brusque refusal of two European countries to