President Hu Jintao’s state visits to the UK, Germany and Spain this month demonstrate the continuing importance attached by China to its relations with Europe. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of official relations between the EU and China—a reason for some... MORE

China achieved another major milestone with the successful launch of its second manned spacecraft in less than two years on October 12, 2005, when Shenzhou (Divine Vessel) VI blasted into orbit atop a Chinese Changzheng (Long March) rocket from the Jiuquan Space Launch Center. After... MORE

Since 2000, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been paying a good deal more attention to Brunei Darussalam than in the past. Emblematic of this newfound interest in Brunei was Chinese President Hu Jintao’s state visit to the Southeast Asian state in April 2005,... MORE

Fifty years ago the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s Central Secretariat held a meeting inside the Zhongnanhai compound to embark on the PRC’s nuclear weapons program. At the time of this gathering, China was still recovering from the Korean War that ended in 1953, and faced... MORE

Hu Jintao made an official visit to North Korea on October 28, the first Chinese presidential tour to the DPRK in four years and in response to Kim Jong-Il’s visit to China in 2003. Both China and North Korea praised the summit highly. Kim accorded... MORE

On October 25, a Canadian court dismissed Lukoil’s lawsuit against China National Petroleum Company (CNPC)’s purchase of Petrokaz, a firm headquartered in Canada that owns several Kazakh oil fields. Immediately after the decision, however, Nelson Resources Ltd., a Bermuda-based energy firm that is to be... MORE

Despite U.S. and EU embargos on the transfer of sensitive military technology to Beijing that followed the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, China continues to seek such technology through the “backdoor” from EU member-states. Government officials and various segments of business communities in certain EU... MORE

China’s 11th Five Year Plan (FYP) has laid out a grandiose roadmap for the country’s “scientific development,” a euphemism used by the country’s leadership for economic growth that takes into consideration the welfare of disadvantaged sectors as well as environmental concerns. Given the track record... MORE

On July 21, 1995, in response to Taiwan’s then-President Lee Teng-hui’s controversial visit to his alma mater in the United States, China fired a volley of nuclear-capable missiles into the sea 90 miles north of Taipei. Those were followed by more missile firings that same... MORE

China’s environment is edging closer to a condition of crisis with each passing day. Pollution and environmental degradation have already left scars and will continue to create problems as the situation worsens. While it may be possible for China to mitigate the impact of environmental... MORE