Executive Summary: Beijing is promoting cross-border power transmission projects, deploying its leading producers of submarine electric cables to deepen integration with other countries’ critical infrastructure. Orient Cables, a national champion firm that has received generous government subsidies and has achieved several technical breakthroughs, is now... MORE

Executive Summary: Speculation is growing about a power struggle at the top of the Party. An announcement of new regulations for influential decision-making and coordinating bodies is a clear sign of change in how the leadership makes policy. Its implications for Xi Jinping’s power remain... MORE

Executive Summary: The Xi Jinping–Lee Jae Myung phone call on June 10 signals a tactical thaw after years of strain under Yoon Suk Yeol, reviving “good-neighborly friendship” language and soft power channels Beijing had suspended when Yoon restarted work on deploying the U.S. missile defense... MORE

Executive Summary: Beijing interprets recent U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities as a demonstration of deterrence aimed at supporters of Iran’s Islamic regime. In response, state media showcased the Yunjian-1000 bunker-busting missile, implying that the People’s Liberation Army has superior capabilities than those of the... MORE

Executive Summary: New evidence suggests that a faction within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aligned with former president Hu Jintao and former premier Wen Jiabao could be exerting influence on the direction of the Party. Three party elders—all of whom were Hu Jintao allies—reportedly criticized... MORE

Executive Summary: The annual Central Asia Digital Security Expo in Xinjiang is supported by the U.S.-sanctioned Xinjiang Public Security Bureau and brings technology firms together to network and market their products under the context of the CCP’s ongoing campaign of repression. Federal sanctions, due diligence,... MORE

Executive Summary: The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has a long history of engaging in agricultural espionage and, potentially, sabotage in the United States. This is partly to decouple from U.S. agriculture, and partly to achieve food security in the event of a major conflict... MORE

Executive Summary: Beijing is moving to systematically embed artificial intelligence into its national innovation system, according to a high-level leadership meeting of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in early June. This marks the beginning of a new phase in which AI development... MORE

Executive Summary: Since 2019, the Party has promoted the construction of a “new national system”—a centrally directed, institutionalized framework for mobilizing state and market resources to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies vital to national power and security. Beijing sees this system as already delivering results... MORE

Executive Summary: Two new pieces of national security legislation in Hong Kong introduce six offenses and six “prohibited places,” signaling closer alignment with the laws of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) mainland and raising concerns about the safety and freedom of foreigners and locals.... MORE