'Chinese Chechnya' is how - only half-jokingly - Central Asians refer to the Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China (historically known as Eastern Turkistan). Such a comparison is not without reason. Like Chechnya, the area's population is mixed: In the XUAR, approximately half the population... MORE

The September 11 terrorist attack on the US inevitably had a strong impact on China, both in terms of its domestic politics and its foreign policy initiatives. In a way, Beijing's smooth policy adjustments have allowed China to achieve many unexpected gains. The Roots of... MORE

Beijing's unusually cautious response to Taiwan's disputed presidential polls shows that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership has yet to come to a consensus on how to deal with four more years of administration under 'splittis' President Chen Shui-bian. This, despite the fact that with... MORE

China's behavior toward Hong Kong warrants the attention of those who wish to understand Chinese efforts toward reunification across the Taiwan Strait. Witness, for example, the limited input afforded Hong Kong during the protracted Sino-British negotiations on its retrocession, which concluded in 1984. Given that... MORE

The issue of Taiwan's future--independence or absorption by China--remains one of principle for all three of the major actors in this drama. Beijing insists that Taiwan is a Chinese province; Taiwan insists that it has the right to determine its own future; Washington adheres to... MORE

"Our newspaper is dying, while the murderer cries 'I want more blood!'" read the stark, brief email message from a staff member of the popular Guangzhou newspaper Southern Metropolitan Daily. "The dawn seems so far away that we doubt it will ever come." The message... MORE

No military action for the Taiwan Strait--not even psychological warfare oriented missile drills such as those undertaken in late 1995 and early 1996 -- is being planned by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) for the coming year or so. And this will be true whether... MORE

Rather like George Bush and his division of the world into "Us and Them," China has stopped trying to persuade the people of Hong Kong to abandon their hopes for democracy and has warned them of realities as they are seen from Beijing. These realities... MORE

China is ever so in fashion these days. Indeed, a recent issue of Foreign Affairs ran two articles under the rubric “China Takes Off.” And though none of the authors suggested that China would be the world’s next superpower, the feeling remains that the majority... MORE

Recent revelations in the Abdul Qadeer Khan affair indicate that, with Chinese complicity, Pakistan developed a nuclear proliferation chain involving North Korea, Iran, Libya and nuclear suppliers in Europe and Malaysia. With Pakistan now the hub of international terrorism as well as nuclear proliferation, the... MORE