
Latest China Brief Articles

Xi Seeks to Woo Foreign and Domestic Business
Executive Summary: President Xi Jinping unveiled the “2025 Action Plan to Stabilize Foreign Investment” and met with leading entrepreneurs for the first time in seven years, in an effort to reinvigorate the private sector and court foreign investment. The plan seeks foreign investment in sectors... MORE

War Memorials put the Party Front and Center for 80th Anniversary
Executive Summary: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War to promote a distorted version of history in order to stoke patriotism among the Chinese people. Official remembering of the war has changed over the... MORE

PRC Dominance Over Global Port Infrastructure
Executive Summary: Beijing’s economic control of port operations at strategic chokepoints across the world, many of which are part of the Maritime Silk Road initiative, pose a threat to the United States and its allies. Two Chinese state-owned firms, COSCO and China Merchant Ports, control... MORE

Energy and AI Coordination in the ‘Eastern Data Western Computing’ Plan
Executive Summary: The “Eastern Data Western Computing” plan is a multiagency strategy that coordinates cloud computing data centers and energy infrastructure across the People’s Republic of China. These are increasingly relevant with the rise of artificial intelligence. This cloud infrastructure buildout likely will not rival that... MORE

Multiple Multipoles: Distinguishing Definitions Between Beijing and the West
Executive Summary: Beijing believes that the multipolar world it has spent decades calling for is within reach, judging by recent high-level speeches in Europe, Russia, and elsewhere. Beijing’s conception of multipolarity diverges in important ways from that of the West. Moscow has been central to Beijing’s approach... MORE

DeepSeek’s Background Raises Multiple Concerns
Executive Summary: DeepSeek and its parent company, High-Flyer, are embedded in the vibrant—and heavily state-subsidized—“Hangzhou Chengxi Science and Technology Innovation Corridor,” which aims to create a Chinese answer to Silicon Valley in the companies’ hometown. DeepSeek claims that its models are not trained on GPUs... MORE

Strangers on a Seabed: Sino-Russian Collaboration on Undersea Cable Sabotage Operations
Executive Summary: Recent suspicious activities conducted by the merchant vessels Shunxing-39 and Vasili Shukshin in the vicinity of Taiwan in early 2025 suggest possible collaboration between Chinese and Russian merchant ships related to the reconnaissance and sabotage of undersea communications cables that connect Taiwan to... MORE

Five Key Factors Behind Irregular Leadership Changes in the People’s Liberation Army
Executive Summary: The year 2024 witnessed sudden removals of high-level People’s Liberation Army (PLA) commanders, a continuation of the purge of 15 defense industry leaders and military commanders in 2023. Xi Jinping’s possible motivations include combating corruption, managing factional conflicts, asserting dominance as an aging... MORE

Europe Could Be Supporting Russia’s War via ‘Seven Sons’ Partnerships
Executive Summary: Research collaboration between European and Chinese universities could be indirectly supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine. Over 20 agreements, partnerships, or newly published research articles have been announced between “Seven Sons of National Defense” universities and European entities between December 2024 and January 2025.... MORE

Military Content Restrictions Could Indicate Trouble Ahead
Executive Summary: New measures to control online information related to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) could be an indicator of imminent military operations, further purges, or other military activity. The measures are drafted by 10 military and state bodies, indicating that Beijing places enormous importance... MORE