From November 20-26, President Hu Jintao paid consecutive visits to India and Pakistan, concluding a nearly two-week, four-country trip through Southeast and South Asia. The Delhi stop was the latest in a recent spate of bilateral diplomacy that includes the April 2005 announcement of a... MORE

China’s environmental problems are increasingly in the international limelight, as reports of the country’s mounting pollutants and stories of the choking air in major Chinese cities have made their way into newspapers throughout the world. The most serious of these challenges have been linked to... MORE

Attracting little international and media attention, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) recently held its Second General Assembly in Munich, Germany from November 24-27. Some 40 activists took part in the meeting, representing Uyghur communities all over the world, including the United States, Canada, Great Britain,... MORE

Few subjects are as contentiously debated among students of contemporary China as the direction of its modernization and the progress of its reforms. More often than not, these discussions become dogmatic disputes that yield little value to the comprehension of the raison d’être behind China’s... MORE

NEW WAR GAMES SIMULATOR EMPLOYED AT NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY China’s National Defense University (NDU) has initiated the use of a new situational conflict simulation system in order to train its mid- and high-level military and civilian personnel in operational and crisis decision-making. This “immersion-type strategic... MORE

As the United States hedges against a potential military confrontation with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Beijing has opted to circumvent Washington’s preparations by adopting a grand strategy that utilizes “extra-military instruments” to gradually diminish the preponderant influence of the United States. These instruments—economic... MORE

A recent talk by Premier Wen Jiabao illustrates Beijing’s failure to undertake comprehensive reforms in perhaps the most critical area of Chinese life: education. While meeting with several university presidents, Wen recalled a discussion that he had with Qian Xuesen, the revered “Father of the... MORE

There are no simple answers when it comes to the questions of whether or how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will become a democracy. The democratic transition of the world’s most populous nation, if it occurs, will certainly be no easy task. At present,... MORE

The modernization and internationalization of China’s financial system is perhaps the last and in some ways, most difficult chapter in the country’s economic transition. Partly driven by China’s WTO commitments, the speed of the financial sector reforms has accelerated in recent years. Most state banks... MORE

Troubled by the widening disparities in socioeconomic conditions between urban and rural regions and among various demographics, China’s leaders have adopted what they believe will be a more equitable policy of development. During its Sixth Plenary Sessions in October, the 16th Central Committee issued a... MORE