HONG KONG An ugly new strain of atypical pneumonia has medical scientists worldwide working overtime. They are trying to discover why a small but growing number of patients in many countries are now suffering and dying. To date, according to the World Health Organizataion (WHO),... MORE

Beijing often downplays the size of its Xinjiang problem for fear of exposing the difficulties it faces containing the "cancer of terrorism." Since September 11, 2001, Beijing has been forced to reverse this policy due to repeated terrorist attacks. The most recent of these took... MORE

Politics itself is immoral and dirty. We have to use immoral, dirty means to overthrow this regime. Then we can set up a moral and clean regime. --Peng Ming Peng Ming hopes to bring democracy to China, but he does not ask Beijing for the... MORE

Major personnel decisions to be made at the ongoing First Session of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) will have fateful consequences for the factional balance within the Chinese Communist Party. Outgoing President Jiang Zemin will have his staying power confirmed through gaining yet another... MORE

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has a number of sound strategic and political reasons for trying to shift its previous army-dominated defense priorities to a new emphasis on joint-forces approaches that stress missile, air and naval defenses. However, the... MORE

By Gordon G. Chang Will Kim Jong Il just slam down the phone on China's president, Jiang Zemin? That's what Beijing wants us to think. "If Kim tells Jiang he is going to test a nuclear weapon unless Jiang gives him more aid, what do... MORE

In the fall of 1950 the Chinese People's Liberation Army began its invasion and conquest of the Tibet Plateau. Since that time, outside attention has quite properly focused on the suffering of the Tibetan people. A million Tibetans, one person in six, died as a... MORE

It was exactly one decade ago that China became a net oil importer. That makes it one of the late arrivals in the global energy game. Since then, however, its accelerating industrialization has made it increasingly dependent on imported oil. Today, China's primary energy consumption... MORE

by Willy Lam   As befits a country where rule of personality--rather than rule of law--holds sway, much of the concern of the new administration under Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Hu Jintao and Premier-designate Wen Jiabao will be improving the efficiency and probity of... MORE

By Thomas Woodrow The former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan sit astride some of the world's most valuable oil and gas reserves or the routes to those reserves. Access to Central Asian energy resources, which are just now beginning to be exploited... MORE