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Latest China Brief Articles
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Peng Liyuan Rises Up the Ranks: Implications for Xi’s Despotic Rule
Executive Summary: Recent behavior by General Secretary Xi Jinping suggests a contradiction in his approach to leadership. While he has sacked protégés, suggesting a reckoning with past personnel decisions, he continues to prioritize personal connections and loyalty over competence. This centralization of power is exemplified... MORE
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Graphene Among New Materials Intended to Unlock New Productive Forces
Executive Summary: Graphene is one of the most promising candidates to boost the new materials sector, which has been the focus of high-level strategic planning in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for some time. The material’s unique properties make it suitable for applications in... MORE
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Open-Source Technology and PRC National Strategy: Part I
Executive Summary: The OpenAtom Foundation supports open-source technology in areas such as RISC-V architecture and Electronic Design Automation. These efforts are part of a strategy by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to navigate and overcome technological containment by the United States, showcasing the foundation’s... MORE
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Comac’s Homegrown Aircraft Goes Global
Executive Summary: The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) will likely take many years developing into a veritable world-class aircraft enterprise. Over 1,200 orders have been placed for the new C919, primarily from domestic state-owned airlines. Comac has delivered 5 single-aisle planes to domestic airlines... MORE
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Foreign Fixations at the Heart of Chinese-style Modernization
Executive Summary: A new report from two high-end PRC think-tanks details the country’s path to modernization in anticipation of July’s Third Plenum but suggests that any shifts in policy direction will be muted. The report emphasizes the triumph of Chinese-style modernization over the Western model... MORE
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Article 23 Legislation and the Export of Hong Kong’s Human Rights Violations
Executive Summary: The Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (SNSO) introduced under Article 23 of the Basic Law prohibits five types of activities which HKSAR officials intend to declare as “offenses,” and has proposed provisions which are vague and criminalize the peaceful exercise of human rights while... MORE
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A Disturbance in the Force: The Reorganization of People’s Liberation Army Command and Elimination of China’s Strategic Support Force
Executive Summary: Consolidation and refinement of military information power capabilities within the new Information Support Force (ISF) continues to reflect the PLA’s outsized emphasis on battlespace information control in multi-domain integrated joint operations. The April 2024 reorganization eliminated the Strategic Support Force and subordinated the... MORE
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China’s People’s Armed Forces Departments: Developments Under Xi Jinping
Executive Summary: People’s Armed Police Forces Departments (PAFD), or People’s militias, have grown under Xi Jinping. This reflects apprehension about domestic security rather than any serious effort at wartime preparedness. PAFD units are staffed by military and civilian employees from local governments. They are responsible... MORE
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Learning From National Security Education Day
Executive Summary: The Comprehensive National Security Concept has expanded over the last decade to cover areas the People’s Republic of China (PRC) perceives to be its territory, which now includes the deep sea, space, and digital networks. Xi Jinping has pushed the totalizing conception of... MORE
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Planned Obsolescence: The Strategic Support Force In Memoriam (2015-2024)
Executive Summary: The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Strategic Support Force likely was designed principally as a transitional structure meant to provide a home for disparate space, cyber, and informatization forces until their force structure could be developed enough to stand as independent branches. The successor... MORE