Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is reportedly preparing for another visit to the Yasukuni Shrine where World War II war criminals are being honored among the war dead. If he carries out his sixth homage before stepping down as the prime minister in September, Tokyo’s... MORE

In its recently published report on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the Pentagon focused on the lack of transparency of the PLA’s budget, as well as the generals’ shift of emphasis from merely tackling Taiwan separatism to also targeting U.S. aircraft carriers and submarines in... MORE

“All warfare is based on deception,” Sun Tzu declared. Historically, China has faithfully adopted this maxim by launching a diplomatic offensive prior to military action either to deceive other countries of its true intentions or to justify its actions. Chinese Defense Minister and Vice Chairman... MORE

Large-scale personnel changes are taking place in provinces, cities, counties and townships all over China. Top cadres of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as well as its Organization Department, have in the past month issued repeated warnings against factionalism, corruption and "the wanton buying and... MORE

On the surface, Chinese President Hu Jintao's invitation to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh for his historic six-day long visit to China in April represents a natural extension of Beijing's efforts to increase its energy security amidst tightening global energy supplies. Beijing's goal of expanding... MORE

An article in the April edition of the Far Eastern Economic Review, written by two senior Chinese academics, reveals that China would go to war to secure its energy needs [1]. For the past few years, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has reorganized the army... MORE

On the surface, Sino-Cuba relations may be difficult to take seriously. Hu Jintao heads the world’s largest and most explosively developing county while Fidel Castro stands astride a faraway, skinny island with one of the most stagnant economies in the world. In 1960 Cuba was... MORE

While the world is focused on China’s relations with the United States following Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington, China’s relations with the “other” West—the European Union, Canada, Australia and New Zealand—have been of increasing importance in recent years, especially in achieving China’s foreign... MORE

During the first week in April, China and Turkmenistan signed a deal by which Turkmenistan will annually sell China 30 BCM of gas from 2009 to 2039 at a price to be determined with reference to the global market price. During Turkmenistan President Sapirmurad Niyazov's... MORE

President Hu Jintao’s U.S. trip last week (April 18 – 21) marked subtle but important changes in both the substance and style of China’s American diplomacy. This is despite the fact that given the lack of accomplishments at the much-touted Hu-Bush “summit,” the visit would... MORE