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Latest China Brief Articles
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China Makes a Move in the Middle East: How Far Will Sino-Arab Strategic Rapprochement Go?
Introduction With a well-planned strategy and a careful exploitation of the gaps opened by U.S. foreign policy shifts, China has successfully increased its role as a strategic actor in the Middle East, including by gaining a foothold in the regional arms market. Chinese President Xi... MORE
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History and Heritage: As COVID Misery Mounts, Xi Looks to the Past for Lessons and Legitimacy
Long lines of cars have recently been reported at Beijing’s funeral homes and crematoriums (VOA Chinese, December 17). This body backlog belies official assurances that COVID-19 deaths in China’s capital remain in the single digits. At times, the dichotomy between the reality of the COVID-19... MORE
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PLA Blows Hot and Cold over U.S. Air Force’s Multirole Heavy Aircraft
Introduction In mid-November, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) published an article evaluating the U.S. Air Force’s (USAF) recent efforts to use its heavy aircraft (bombers, tankers, and cargo aircraft) for more missions than they were designed to execute. The article casts doubt on the... MORE
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The Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway and the Future of the Belt and Road Initiative
Introduction On the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo watched over a video livestream as the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway (HSR) sped through its first trial run between Tegalluar Station and Casting Yard No.... MORE
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An International Lifeline: Taiwan’s Parliamentary Outreach
Introduction For decades, China has made systematic efforts to internationally isolate Taiwan through a mix of coercion and diplomatic enticement. Taiwan, however, has broken through this isolation by engaging with other nations through robust parliamentary diplomacy in order to expand its international space and legitimacy.... MORE
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Will a Successor to Xi Jinping Emerge from the Party’s Seventh-Generation Leadership?
Introduction General Secretary Xi Jinping has a long record of breaking with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rules and conventions. At the recently concluded 20th Party Congress, he made himself the “party core for life” by revising the CCP charter and reinforced that position by filling... MORE
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Predicting China’s Next Foreign Minister: Key Factors and Policy Implications
Introduction At the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 20th Party Congress in late October, five diplomats were selected as full Central Committee members, one of whom will be appointed as China’s next foreign minister (FM) at the National People’s Congress (NPC) next March (Xinhuanet, October 22;... MORE
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The 20th Central Military Commission: Personnel and Priorities
Introduction “Security” was the operative word in General Secretary Xi Jinping’s opening report to the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) this October. Xi stressed that the Party has stood firm against “external attempts to blackmail, contain, blockade and exert maximum pressure”... MORE
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Keep Calm and Carry On: Xi Jinping Takes a Page From the Book of Jiang Zemin
On November 30, with mass protests only recently suppressed in Beijing and Shanghai and still simmering in Guangzhou and Chongqing, state media notified the “whole party, army and country” that former General Secretary Jiang Zemin, who led the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from mid-1989 to... MORE
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Meloni at the Helm: What Does Italy’s New Government Mean for Sino-Italian Relations?
Introduction Questions about the unity of Italy’s new government on several key foreign policy issues persist, ranging from the extent of its support for Ukraine to its commitment to various European Union institutions. However, on the issue of China, the new government of Prime Minister... MORE