Latest China Brief Articles

Taiwan’s Defense Transformation and Challenges Under Ma Ying-Jeou

The third anniversary of Taiwan’s landmark 2008 presidential election, which brought the Kuomintang (KMT) back to power, is approaching. Since Ma Ying-Jeou’s inauguration in 2008, Taiwan has made significant progress in improving relations with China and in expanding cross-Strait economic interpenetration. A review of the... MORE

Japan’s Approach to China’s Control of Rare Earth Elements

Japan has been dealt a number of blows over the past few years which have put the country’s high-tech production capacity at risk. Most recently the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan in March has directly affected production efforts through rolling blackouts and... MORE

The Rise of the Energy Faction in Chinese Politics

The appointment earlier this month of Su Shulin, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary and general manager of Sinopec, as acting governor of Fujian Province highlighted the growing clout of the Energy Faction in Chinese politics. Senior executives of the Big Three yangqi (or centrally-controlled firms)... MORE

China’s Maritime Strategy Is More Than Naval Strategy

The sporadic confrontations that punctuated the past two years in the China seas subsided for a time. Senior U.S. military officials depicted the lull as a temporary, tactical retreat from the assertive stance Beijing assumed on such controversies as conflicting maritime territorial claims, foreign naval... MORE

Beijing Confronts Japanese Nuclear Meltdown

The nuclear crises at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in neighboring Japan that began with the March 11 earthquake and tsunami has induced the Chinese government to pause and perhaps moderate its civilian nuclear buildup. Describing safety as its top priority, the State Council... MORE

China’s Looming Labor Supply Challenge?

China has the largest labor force in the world. In recent years, new strains have emerged in China’s labor supply that raise concerns about the country's economic growth mode. The shortage of migrant workers that gripped the Pearl River Delta region and the coastal areas... MORE

Hu Signs New Regulations Safeguarding Military Secrets

Against the backdrop of an uptick in high-profile cases involving military secrets that include startling revelations by Taiwan’s intelligence chief of China’s growing arsenal of strategic weapons, Beijing is beefing up its secrecy regulations to better safeguard its classified information. On April 1, Chinese President... MORE

Defense and Deterrence in China’s Military Space Strategy

China’s theory of space deterrence may be a work in progress, but Beijing is already developing an impressive array of counter-space systems. Indeed, the capabilities that China is working on go beyond the direct ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon, successfully tested in January 2007. The test... MORE