The extent and nature of Chinese defense spending can serve as the parameters for the future course of China’s military power and China’s intentions as it continues military modernization. Recent scholarship on China’s defense spending concludes that its military budgets have been understated in official... MORE

The first installment of this series on the Republic of China Navy (ROCN), or Taiwan Navy, presented a skeptical assessment of the ROCN’s ability to fulfill the expansive requirements set forth in its “ROC Navy Vision” (Xin shiji haijun), which in essence directs the navy... MORE

From March 23 to March 25, Afghan President Hamid Karzai conducted a state visit to China. The trip underscored the People's Republic of China's (PRC) support for the Karzai-led government, with the Afghan president telling his hosts that Sino-Afghanistan relations were better than at any... MORE

While the international community is fixated on Iran’s nuclear program, China has been steadily expanding its political, economic and strategic ties with Syria. Since Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited China in 2004 on the heels of the 2003 U.S. intervention in Iraq, there have been... MORE

As the political crisis in Kyrgyzstan reaches a turning point, after opposition forces seized the capital Bishkek in a bloody clash and ousted the president and his allies, Chinese leaders from regions across China have reportedly descended upon Xinjiang en masse in a rare spectacle... MORE

China’s Dream: Major Power Thinking and Strategic Posture in a Post-American Era has attracted considerable attention from both Chinese and Western media [1]. The author, Senior Colonel Liu Mingfu, calls for China to replace the United States as the dominant military power. Liu is a... MORE

Following two months of tussling with the Chinese government—much of it under the glare of intense media coverage—Google Inc. (GOOG) abandoned its core business in the world's most populous nation. Specifically, on March 22, the Mountain View-based company announced it had stopped censoring search results... MORE

The Rajin-Sonbong region in North Korea (also known as Rason following a 2004 administrative reorganization by central authorities) is an underdeveloped backwater near the far northeastern tip of the Korean peninsula bordering Jilin province of China and Primorsky Krai of Russia. Although the area is... MORE

Are there policy and administrative failures behind the unprecedentedly severe drought that is devastating China’s southwestern provinces? The same question is being asked about the unusually ferocious sandstorm that blanketed northern and eastern China last week. The country’s ecological degradation has had dire global consequences.... MORE

In spite of thawing ties along the Taiwan Strait, Beijing is reportedly deploying more sophisticated missile systems in the coastal province across Taiwan.  The director of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau (NSB)—the island’s principle intelligence agency—confirmed independent reports at a legislative hearing that China has deployed... MORE