While the catchwords and slogans of the just-ended Beijing Olympics trumpeted “harmony” and “One World, One Dream,” the traditionally tense relations between Han Chinese and ethnic minorities – particularly Uyghurs and Tibetans – could worsen significantly in the foreseeable future. Four quasi-terrorist attacks in the... MORE

Taiwan has long taken Japan as an ally, both before and after severing diplomatic relations on September 29, 1972. Japan made great efforts to preventing Taiwan’s expulsion from the United Nations in 1971 even more so than the United States had, which was bound to... MORE

The Russian invasion, occupation, and dismemberment of Georgia represent the greatest challenge if not crisis to confront the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). In American commentary on the SCO there has been a consistent tendency to view it as essentially or even merely an anti-American organization... MORE

Beijing’s reaction to the Russo-Georgian fiasco has remained muted since Russian tanks rumbled into Georgia on August 8, leading to the most serious standoff between the West and Russia in the post-Cold War era. In his meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on August 27... MORE

Chinese soldiers were spotted patrolling the streets of Mutare, Zimbabwe. The total number of PLA soldiers in Mutare is unconfirmed, but eyewitness accounts place 10 Chinese soldiers in full military regalia equipped with pistols with 70 Zimbabwean soldiers checking into a hotel (Zimbabwejournalists.com, April 15).... MORE

The 2008 People's Republic of China (PRC) White Paper on Diplomacy placed energy security as a major centerpiece of the country's foreign policy. The White Paper represents "China's foreign policy and China's view on the international situation and introducing the status of China's foreign relations... MORE

The speaker of Taiwan's Legislative Yuan (parliament), Wang Jin-pyng, arrived in Washington, D.C. on July 24 for a week-long visit, marking the highest level visit by a ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party member to the United States since the transfer of power to the new administration... MORE

Since the early 1990s, a number of Japanese policymakers and opinion leaders have called for the “normalization” of their country. The notion of a so-called “normal Japan” has been central to the debate over the country’s security policy. The Japanese normalization discourse and its active... MORE

China’s importance to the burgeoning economies of Southeast Asia has increased remarkably since the mid-1990s [1]. This has been led by dramatic growth in trade already large enough to significantly alter the foreign policy outlooks and priorities of Southeast Asian nations [2]. While Southeast Asia-bound... MORE

For a decade or more there has been active discussion of a security framework, structure, or mechanism for Northeast Asia. The discussions, which intensified over the last half decade, coincided with the Six-Party Talks concerning North Korea’s nuclear weapon program. Many imagined that the talks,... MORE