China’s economic ascent since the early 2000s has generated more equanimity than the fear its military rise caused in the mid-1990s, which led to accelerated concerns in the international community about a “China threat.”  While the Chinese military continues to modernize and its defense budget... MORE

Most analyses of the Sino-Russian strategic partnership focus either on Russian arms sales to China or on the joint military exercises conducted by Moscow and Beijing under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which limits the scope of the analytical framework to a... MORE

China created a stir late last year when it announced that the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) would commence policing the Gulf of Aden for Somali pirates. Two PLAN destroyers and a combat logistics ship arrived on station off the Horn of Africa this past... MORE

While an anti-corruption campaign has been launched almost annually since the start of the reform era in 1978, there are reasons to believe the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is committing more resources to tackling graft this year. Clean governance and the allied goal of “party... MORE

Following a dismal H1 performance (January – May) for China's shipbuilding industry (SIB)—new orders received by Chinese shipbuilders decreased by 96 percent year-on-year (yoy), with a net of 1.18 million deadweight tons (DWT)—the sector posted a substantial boost of 8.8 million DWT in new orders... MORE

With much attention focused on China’s growing naval, shipbuilding and port infrastructure developments, it is easy to forget another important dimension of China’s maritime rise: China’s status as a major global fishing power.  With a total haul of over 17 million tons in 2007, China’s... MORE

On April 21, 2009, China formally concluded an agreement to lend $25 billion to Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft and pipeline monopoly Transneft in exchange for the completion of an oil pipeline from Skovorodino in Russia to Daqing in China.  Russian commentators claim that the... MORE

The outbreak of ethno-sectarian unrest in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Autonomous Region (XAR) between members of the local Uighur community, an ethnic Turkic population that is predominantly Sunni Muslim, and ethnic Han Chinese, China’s majority ethnic group, has largely subsided on the surface.  The hostilities began... MORE

As the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) marked its 82nd birthday on August 1, the Hu Jintao leadership has taken several major initiatives to raise the quality of its senior personnel. President and Commander-in-chief Hu has also given a big boost to military modernization by pledging... MORE

A string of Chinese reports, which appeared in recent weeks leading to and following the People's Liberation Army (PLA) 82nd birthday on August 1, seems to indicate that a debate over reforming China's seven military regions is maturing. A major reform to the existing PLA's... MORE