Brazil is the largest developing country in the Western Hemisphere, and China is the largest developing country in the world. According to some Western estimates, the combined economies of the BRIC (i.e. Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries would surpass the combined economies of the... MORE

Engagement between Beijing and Washington operates on many levels but none is more critical than a regularized mechanism for strategic discussion by the top officials in economics and foreign policy.  While Presidential summitry is extremely valuable, it is too infrequent and too brief to cover... MORE

According to official Chinese media reports, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will hold a massive two-month long military drill that will involve 50,000 troops from four divisions across four of China’s seven military commands in the second half of 2009. Citing a source from the... MORE

The recriminations that flared between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the United States over the latest Sino-American maritime confrontation makes evident how little progress has been made in Sino-U.S. defense dialogue during the past two decades. Clashes between U.S. and Chinese military units... MORE

Developments in the South China Sea during the first quarter of 2009 reinforced several trends that have been apparent over the past two years. First, the Spratly Islands dispute has once again come to dominate Sino-Philippine relations, despite attempts by Beijing and Manila to move... MORE

"History has proved that we [China and Cuba] are worthy of the name of fast friends, good comrades and intimate brothers,” commented Chinese President Hu Jintao on the state of Sino-Cuban bilateral relations during a visit with Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana on November... MORE

China’s military forces crossed a watershed when the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) celebrated its 60th birthday by holding a parade of state-of-the-art hardware such as indigenously developed nuclear submarines. That the 2.4-million strong People's Liberation Army (PLA) has attained quasi-superpower status was also supported... MORE

Recent reports circulating in the Chinese press indicate that Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Company Limited—one of China’s oldest state-owned shipbuilding company regarded as the “cradle of China’s national [shipbuilding] industry”—could be slated by Beijing to carry out the Chinese military’s long-standing mission to build an indigenous... MORE

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) of Taiwan released its maiden “Quadrennial Defense Review" (QDR) on March 16. The report was warranted under provision Article 31 in Taiwan's National Defense Act—which was passed in 2008—and conducted by the Integrated Assessment Office of the MND. The... MORE

On April 23rd the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy will conduct a “naval parade” in the waters off of Qingdao. This naval review will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the PLA Navy and honor in advance the 60th anniversary of the founding... MORE