Latest China Brief Articles

Obama’s China Trip: Forging Middle Class Ties

Last April, in a press conference capping his first one hundred days in office, President Obama remarked that the "'ship of state' is an ocean liner, not a speedboat," and that even a small shift in direction could have far-reaching consequences even a decade or... MORE

Changes in Beijing’s Approach to Overseas Basing?

Although China has traditionally avoided basing its troops abroad, the People's Republic of China's (PRC) growing global interests and its military's evolving missions are leading some Chinese analysts to suggest that Beijing may need to reconsider its traditional aversion to establishing overseas military facilities. In... MORE

Hu Sends Special Envoy to Pyongyang ahead of Whirldwind Summitry

As part of a three-day visit from September 16–18 that largely stayed below the fray of both domestic and international media, Chinese President Hu Jintao sent State Councilor and former Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Dai Bingguo—his trusted confidante and top foreign policy advisor on... MORE

Emerging Fault Lines in Sino-Burmese Relations: The Kokang Incident

Armed conflict between Burma’s armed forces (known as the Tatmadaw) and the Kokang militia (known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, MNDAA), along the Sino-Burmese border in late August brought into sharp focus the complex and sometimes testy relationship between Burma (Myanmar) and the... MORE

The Geopolitics of Cross-Strait Disaster Relief

Typhoon Morakot swept across Taiwan in August, dumping over 100 inches of rain with entire villages wiped out by mudslides, leaving a trail of destruction including over 600 dead and missing.  The aftermath of this natural disaster has become enmeshed in Taiwan’s domestic and cross-Strait... MORE