By Willy Wo-Lap Lam While considered an unlikely eventuality by most China and Taiwan experts, the use of force--or at least its threat--has proven to be one of Beijing's most potent weapons in what it calls the "great reunification enterprise." President Jiang Zemin reiterated during... MORE

By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. It is increasingly evident that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) is devoting considerable resources to the research and development of advanced high-technology weaponry. An apparent crash program now seeks to build new weapons for a conflict over Taiwan. But, more... MORE

Training of troops is one of the weakest links in the modernization of China's armed forces. This may be changing, however, especially in the power projecting forces like the air (People's Liberation Army Air Force, PLAAF) and naval forces. A STRATEGIC ISSUE A week before... MORE

by William R. Hawkins China is making a concerted effort to establish itself as a Pacific naval and maritime power. In February 1992, the National People's Congress passed a law unilaterally claiming sovereignty over not only Taiwan, but the Spratlys, Paracels and Diaoyutai/Senkaku islands as... MORE

By John Tkacik Earlier this year, it was suggested that Taiwan's political leaders could never declare "independence" because their supporters are too dependent on their US$50 billion (some say US$100 billion) investments in manufacturing operations in China. On the other hand, Taiwan's ever-sharpening ethnic politics... MORE

In 1949, Taiwan's Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) was defeated by the communists and fled from the mainland to Taiwan. At that time the party's future looked dim. Recently there is pessimism in the party not heard since those days. Thrown out of power for... MORE

By Willy Wo-Lap Lam Chinese military forces have just finished an elaborate war game off the Fujian coast that involved more than 100,000 crack troops as well as the latest missiles, jetfighters and submarines. High on the agenda of President Jiang Zemin's recent trip to... MORE

By Jean-Pierre Cabestan Since Chen Shui-bian's election as president of Taiwan (Republic of China) in March 2000, Beijing has constantly refused to resume its unofficial dialogue with Taipei. Channels of indirect communication, however, have multiplied. China's impending entry into the WTO and its need to... MORE

After close to fifteen years of on-again, off-again, arduous negotiations, the People's Republic of China (PRC) is finally poised to enter the World Trade Organization, the institution governing the international trading system. Premised on the principles of free trade, the WTO requires new member nations... MORE

During the June Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Shanghai, the United States made further concessions to Chinese demands in order to move Beijing closer to World Trade Organization (WTO) membership. The concessions gave China de facto status as a developing country, which will allow... MORE