The year 2009 will likely be remembered as the beginning of a more assertive phase in Chinese foreign policy, as seen in Beijing's stance on reform of the international financial system, its massive investments in foreign countries, and in particular its investment in and acquisition... MORE

China and Pakistan have forged a formidable partnership in high-tech defense production. This partnership is born of their ever-deepening military and strategic cooperation that is also reflective of the burgeoning capacity of China's defense industries and the budding Sino-Pakistani defense relationship. The epitome of this... MORE

When Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) Wu Banggou arrived in the Bahamas in early September 2009 on the second leg of his Americas tour, it quickly became clear that he was not on vacation. As China’s top legislator and... MORE

The latest reshuffle in the provincial-party leadership has validated a seminal trend in Chinese politics: the rise of party apparatchiks and the relative decline of technocrats. Early this month, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Organization Department announced two promotions: Hebei Governor Hu Chunhua was made... MORE

In early December, the People’s Liberation Army's (PLA) publication, China Defense Daily (Zhongguo Guofang Bao), published a report that provided a rare glimpse into an underground tunnel that is being built by the Second Artillery Corps (SAC)—the PLA's strategic missile forces—in the mountainous regions of... MORE

For a few days in mid-November, it looked like the Chinese government was prepared to take the unprecedented step to lead a multinational security operation involving the armed forces of Russia, the United States, the EU, and other countries. Following the seizure of yet another... MORE

On October 19, Legislator and Chairman of Congressional Caucus for the opposition party DPP (Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party) Chai Trong-rong publicly accused the Ma Ying-jeou administration of providing China with sensitive undersea survey data around Taiwan. Legislator Chai maintained that the information, which he alleged... MORE

As anticipated, the fourth ministerial Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which was held in Sharm al-Shaykh (Egypt), November 8-9, reflected wall-to-wall praise for Sino-African "cooperation" in general and particularly for the positive Chinese role in Africa. China announced its readiness to pour more money into... MORE

Chinese President Hu Jintao has signaled his administration's readiness to play a bigger—and perhaps more constructive—role in global affairs through the release of a five-pronged foreign policy game plan. Cited by the official Outlook Weekly as “Hu Jintao’s Viewpoints about the Times,” this far-reaching initiative... MORE

In the first major re-shuffle at the party provincial committee level following the 17th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Congress in 2007, several changes have caught the attention of Chinese leadership-watchers. While the personnel changes, which were announced on November 30, affected six out of the... MORE