One of Beijing's worst nightmares seems to be coming true. Having apparently steadied the course in the Middle East, the Bush administration is turning to Asia to tame its long-standing "strategic competitor." While this particular term has been shelved since 9/11 – and Sino-U.S. relations... MORE

The death of Pope John Paul II underlines the gulf that still exists between the Roman Catholic Church and the People's Republic of China (PRC), two of the world's largest and most important bodies. It was the ardent desire of the late pontiff to visit... MORE

Shared strategic interests and political values tie Australia to the United States across the Pacific in much the same way as the Anglo-American alliance traverses the Atlantic. The U.S. is Australia's most important military ally, with the 1951 ANZUS Treaty as the cornerstone of Australia's... MORE

On January 1, the Multifiber Agreement (MFA), which had established a worldwide quota system for textiles and apparel products since 1974, expired. With no quotas in place, China is poised to dominate the world textile industry, having built excess capacity to put into operation as... MORE

Next month is the 50th anniversary of the Bandung Conference, where Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and Indonesian President Sukarno set out to carve a space for Asian and African countries based on principles of mutual interest, respect for national sovereignty and non-alignment with either the... MORE

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao spent a substantial part of his post-National Peoples' Congress press conference on Sino-Japanese ties, offering an olive branch to Tokyo with his "three principles, three recommendations" – if it stays out of the Taiwan issue. But what has clearly changed Sino-Japanese... MORE

The impending termination of the EU's embargo on arms sales to China has implications beyond EU-U.S. and EU-China relations. The motives of the players in this drama, as well as the repercussions of the embargo's likely end, are many and diverse. Certainly, they go beyond... MORE

As recently as the 1980s, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) operated on military doctrines that evolved during World War II and military means preceding the war. The country's political and economic evolution had far outstripped its military capacities, engendering a credibility gap in the overall... MORE

The saga of Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's fall from grace has highlighted Beijing's tightening grip over the Special Administrative Region (SAR), as well as the dicey future of the "one country, two systems" model. While Tung indicated last Thursday that he had submitted... MORE

The European Union (EU) is poised to lift its arms sales embargo on China, imposed in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, within the next few months. But the move may well exacerbate Europe's relationship not only with the United States but... MORE