At time when leaders in China and Japan were expecting to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the normalization of relations between the two states with a series of celebrations across both countries, instead leaders in both states are working to contain the latest nationalist flare-ups... MORE

The late patriarch Deng Xiaoping said famously about U.S.-China relations: “There are limits as to how good—or how bad—Sino-U.S. ties can become.” Can the same be said for China and Japan? While relations between the two most powerful Asian countries have apparently been heading toward... MORE

China seems to call out for dramatization. In part this may be the result of its tumultuous history from the First Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion through to the Cultural Revolution and the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. In part it is a... MORE

ANGOLA Operation Shows China Testing Overseas Security Role On August 25, officials from the Chinese Ministry of Public Security (MPS) escorted 37 suspects back to China for violent crimes—including human trafficking, kidnapping, robbery and blackmail—against Chinese émigrés in Angola. The MPS made the arrests in... MORE

Following months of confused signals regarding the relationship between China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea), it now looks like their ties has weathered the recent DPRK leadership transition and could even strengthen in coming months. Jang Song-thaek, director of... MORE

At a forum held in Taipei on August 5th commemorating the 60th anniversary of the peace treaty signed between the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) and Japan following the second Sino-Japanese War, Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou announced his administration’s East China Sea Peace Initiative (donghai... MORE

In late July 2012, Beijing officially established a new city,  Sansha, literally “three sands” or “three sandbanks” (Xinhua, July 24).  The name carried well-thought out symbolism, since the new city was to have jurisdiction over the Paracel Islands (xisha qundao, western sands archipelago), the Spratly... MORE

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) celebrates its founding during the 1927 Nanchang Uprising every year on August 1, China’s PLA Day or Army Day. Accordingly, each year on PLA Day, China’s official media provides authoritative coverage extolling the PLA’s accomplishments and highlighting the leadership’s current... MORE

With the Beidaihe retreat coming to a close this week and Chinese leaders reemerging from behind closed doors, China’s leaders are in the home stretch for deciding the outcomes of the 18th Party Congress. Some of the issues at stake are the size of the... MORE

After decades of largely unsuccessful effort, China's submarine-based nuclear deterrent finally is taking shape with the Type-094, or Jin-class, nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) and its intended armament, the JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). The 2012 Department of Defense report on Chinese military and security developments indicates... MORE