Latest China Brief Articles

TECHNOLOGY AND TOTALITARIANISM

For technology enthusiasts who believe, or wish to believe, that information technology can help bring about the fall of totalitarianism, China is a serious disenchantment. Its economic boom began in 1992, just in time to be caught up in the crest of the Internet revolution... MORE

ANOTHER LARGE BLACK HOLE, PART II

By Gordon G. Chang How much are China's pension and other social welfare obligations? Some say they approach a trillion U.S. dollars. Give or take a couple hundred billion dollars and you define the range of what Beijing will have to pay out to its... MORE

U.S. CHINA STRATEGY: REDEFINING ENGAGEMENT

By Michael E. Marti China is seeking to become the major power in Asia by 2050. Under the rationale of its so-called New Security Concept (NSC), it is intent on replacing the United States as the preeminent military power in the region and achieving economic... MORE

ECONOMIC RECOVERY, AT A PRICE

President Jiang Zemin and his aides have given unmistakable indications that Beijing is taking a harder line on Hong Kong. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership, however, has also dangled what could be an economic lifeline for the recession-riddled Special Administrative Region (SAR). Jiang and... MORE

ANOTHER LARGE BLACK HOLE: PART I

How much do China's unfunded pension and other social security obligations amount to? Nobody knows, not even the technocrats in Beijing. There is, however, one thing that's clear: The nonpayment of pension and other welfare benefits is an explosive social issue. Tens of thousands of... MORE

TO TAKE TAIWAN, FIRST KILL A CARRIER

China's communist leadership has long anticipated that to militarily subdue democratic Taiwan it will first need to win a battle against the United States. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is now preparing for one specific, and key, battle. It is developing methods to disable or... MORE

CHINA IN THE EYE OF THE OSTRICH

What is China's magic? How does the Communist Party get away with it? Beijing exports weapons of mass destruction to dangerous states, oppresses its minorities, locks up political and religious dissidents, menaces Taiwan, looks the other way as human organs and blood are illegally secured... MORE

HONG KONG, 1997-2002

When Chinese President Jiang Zemin arrives in Hong Kong on June 30 for what could be his last official visit to the Special Administrative Region (SAR), he should have ample reason to feel pleased. A wave of patriotism seems to be sweeping the land. Newspapers... MORE

MISSILE PROLIFERATION: CHINA GOES TO BAT FOR PAKISTAN

The abrupt influx of U.S. military forces along China's western flank has seriously jeopardized Beijing's interests in Central and South Asia. China is unlikely to be sidelined into acquiescing to the imposition of U.S. political and diplomatic control in the region in general and Pakistan--its... MORE

CHEN SHUI-BIAN’S TWO YEARS AT THE HELM

On May 20, Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian celebrated his second anniversary in office, having won Taiwan's second direct presidential election in March of 2000, turning out the Kuomintang (KMT) that had governed the island for more than half a century. It has been a trying... MORE