Latest China Brief Articles
Beijing’s Soft Power Push with African Nations
Executive Summary: The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has successfully used its hosting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to burnish its soft power and its credentials to be seen as the leader of the Global South. Close political alignment on core issues, including African... MORE
PRC Partnership Diplomacy in the New Era
Executive Summary: The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has an extensive taxonomy of diplomatic relations, with at least 42 unique combinations of adjectives for different partnerships. The PRC has never delineated the ranking of these partnerships explicitly, though there is enough available information to determine... MORE
PRC Expands De Facto Jurisdiction in the Taiwan Strait
Executive Summary: Beijing has begun to assert greater jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait, with incursions by People’s Republic of China (PRC) government vessels into waters under Taiwan’s jurisdiction set to continue or even increase in number. The PRC is trying to blur the reality of... MORE
An Assessment of the Audit of Volkswagen’s Controversial Factory in Xinjiang
Executive Summary: A recently leaked copy of the audit of Volkswagen’s much-criticized joint-venture factory in Xinjiang indicates that claims made by Volkswagen inside the report are misleading or false. These include suggestions that the audit applied the SA8000 social accountability standard, followed International Labor Organization... MORE
One Partnership at a Time: Beijing Steadily Creates a New Type of International Relations
Executive Summary: The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has established a framework of authority and values that fosters voluntary compliance from subordinate states, as exemplified by the Solomon Islands’ recent diplomatic alignment with Beijing, abandoning recognition of Taiwan in favor of the PRC. The PRC... MORE
Kubernetes: A Dilemma in the Geopolitical Tech Race
Executive Summary: US-sanctioned Huawei has significant influence in the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and its open-source platform Kubernetes, which underpins US military platforms, including F-16 fighter jets and nuclear infrastructure. The use of open-source technologies in critical systems raises concerns. Despite US efforts to mitigate... MORE
Murky Media Network Aligns with Beijing on Sensitive Issues
Editor's Note: Following the publication of this article, the Beijing Times published an editorial with the headline "Beijing Times Clarifies Independence: No Ties to the Chinese Government, Ending Global Political Coverage." In it, the editorial team announced that they had made the decision to "discontinue... MORE
MBZUAI Partners With US Tech, Collaborates With PLA Scientists
Editor's Note: This article is the second in a two-part series. The first part can be found here. In response to the previous article, The Jamestown Foundation received a letter from Eric Xing, President of the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. The letter... MORE
A ‘Chinese Starlink’ Launches New Era For Domestic Space Industry
Executive Summary: A commercial company has become the first enterprise in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to launch a batch of internet satellites into low-Earth orbit. PRC media has framed this “Qianfan” constellation as one of the country’s principal competitors to SpaceX’s Starlink. The... MORE
Survey: How Do Elite Chinese Students Feel About the Risks of AI?
Executive Summary: In April 2024, the authors surveyed 510 students from Tsinghua University and 518 students from Peking University—the PRC’s two preeminent institutions—about their views on the risks of artificial intelligence (AI). The key findings are as follows: Students are more optimistic about the benefits... MORE