![](/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CB_Logo.jpg)
Latest China Brief Articles
![](/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/canadian_oilsands_bought_by_china.jpg)
China Leaps Back into the Canadian Energy Sector
As China has become the world’s second largest economy, its demand for energy has caused it to become the world’s biggest comprehensive energy consumer. Accompanying this process has been a sharp upward trend in Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) focused on energy and other resources.... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/gao_zhisheng.jpg)
The 610 Office: Policing the Chinese Spirit
Numerous official websites from the past six months—in Beijing, Qingdao, Shandong, and Jiangsu among others—mention the 610 Office, an entity engaged in efforts to “carry out comprehensive investigations,” strengthen “transformation,” and prevent unwanted incidents (Pingyin.gov.cn, September 5; Jsrm.gov.cn, August 15; Laoshan.gov.cn, April 2011). A June... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Liu_Ping_-_One_Person_One_Vote.jpg)
Local Elections Open for All but the Independent Candidates
While much of the Middle East and North Africa has been swept by a “spring of democracy” since early this year, the Middle Kingdom is shrouded in deep winter. The latest manifestation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) administration’s determination to “nip all destabilizing forces... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Yu_Zheng_306_Leaving_Port_for_SCS.jpg)
Shelving Differences While Hedging in the South China Sea
With the summer winding down along with the tensions in the South China Sea, China engaged the principle disputants of this round of regional tensions. China hosted Philippine President Benigno Aquino III for a five-day state visit beginning August 30. In Beijing, Chinese and Vietnamese... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Irkol_opening_290409__Kazatomprom_.jpg)
China’s Uranium Quest Part 2: The Turn to Foreign Markets
On August 24, the head of Kazakhstan’s national nuclear monopoly Kazatomprom announced plans to increase its uranium fuel pellet shipments to China by one hundredfold, from 2 metric tons this year to 200 metric tons in 2013 or 2014 (Bloomberg, August 22). This is welcome... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/U-2_Plane.jpg)
Assessing China’s Response to U.S. Reconnaissance Flights
On June 29, 2011, for the first time in a decade, a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force (PLAAF) J-11 crossed the center line of the Taiwan Strait in an attempted intercept of a U.S. Air Force (USAF) U-2 reconnaissance aircraft conducting a monitoring mission... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Biden-Xi_at_School.jpg)
Xi Jinping: China’s Conservative Strongman-in-Waiting
The world caught a rare glimpse of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping during U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s five-day visit to China last month. Xi is due to succeed Hu Jintao as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at its 18th Congress in... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MND_Spokesman_Presents_Defense_White_Paper_2011.jpg)
Taiwan’s Defense White Paper Shows New Candor on Challenges Ahead
In mid-July, Taiwan published the 2011 edition of its defense white paper (“National Defense Report”). This was actually the third such document released in the last 38 months—the Ministry of National Defense (MND) having published a white paper in the final days of the Chen... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Jin_Yinan.jpg)
General’s Spy Comments Reveal More Than Just Espionage
Remarks made by Major General Jin Yi’nan of China’s National Defense University at a conference earlier this year provide new insights into Beijing’s reaction to foreign espionage, which Jin believes showed moral degeneracy within China. Jin’s lengthy speech originally appeared on and was later removed... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Karzai_and_Hu.jpg)
China or the SCO: Who will supervise Afghanistan?
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit at Astana on June 15, 2011 signalled Asia’s regional security order is slowly shifting as Afghanistan appears to be angling to become a new observer member in this decade-old Central Asian body (Ria Novosti, May 16). The Sino-Afghan relationship... MORE