Robina Ahktar, in her 20s, says she earns the equivalent of 13 cents an hour, about one dollar a day, sewing flaps at the rate of one per 30 seconds on the rear pockets of Wal-Mart Faded Glory jeans in a Dhaka-area garment factory in... MORE

Ever since famine struck North Korea in 1995, China has been on the receiving end of a massive influx of Korean refugees. Pyongyang’s failure to feed its own people has driven a starving population across a dangerous 850-mile border in search of food. Given the... MORE

The last quarter of 2004 witnessed major riots in Anhui, Guangdong, Henan, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Sichuan and Zhejiang provinces. In dealing with these incidents of social and economic unrest, the Chinese declared martial law and deployed thousands of regular and paramilitary People’s Liberation Army (PLA)... MORE

Dear Readers: As a maritime power, China's naval developments remain an issue of intense interest for Western policymakers as its meteoric economic development paves the way for China's transformation as a major global power. In light of Beijing's quest to secure energy resources, its extensive... MORE

At a national maritime awards meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 20 December 2004, Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan emphasized the importance of marine development, regulation of China's maritime territory, protection of marine ecology, and rapid development of the marine economy.... MORE

After suffering technological and industrial stagnation and contraction over the past several decades, China's defense industry has undergone an extensive restructuring since the late 1990s to make it leaner, more efficient and better able to meet the high-technology needs of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).... MORE

Four months after the U.S. ordered its troops into Afghanistan to remove the Taliban regime, China and Pakistan joined hands to break ground in building a Deep Sea Port on the Arabian Sea. The project was sited in an obscure fishing village of Gwadar in... MORE

Elsewhere, Ian Storey and I have both argued that the PLA's aircraft carrier program is shelved but not canceled altogether. [1] Profound political and military factors are at work to delay construction, but the idea of China possessing carriers is not dead. In other words,... MORE

If one theme characterizes Thailand's foreign policy, it is the ability to take advantage of the rivalries of larger powers. Skillfully avoiding occupation during various colonial enterprises, Thai foreign policy has cleverly sensed the prevailing winds and adapted accordingly. Thailand's close relationship with China –... MORE

According to recent Western reports out of China and views expressed by the Japanese press and many analysts, Beijing is either actively encouraging or tacitly tolerating a growing anti-Japanese sentiment in China. Thus Beijing is portrayed as largely, if not entirely, responsible for the deteriorating... MORE