In the space of 24 hours starting January 31, disgruntled Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula kidnapped and then released 25 Chinese factory workers in an effort to get Cairo to pay attention to the chaotic situation on the peninsula (China News Service, February 1). The... MORE

This set of essays takes China Brief away from current events, looking ahead at some of the key questions facing analysts in the coming year. The authors—Dennis Blasko, Bruce Gilley, Willy Lam, and Robert Sutter—highlight some of the dynamic tensions at work in China and... MORE

When on November 22, 2011 the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) created the new Strategic Planning Department—consolidating and upgrading some lower-level planning functions—few could have anticipated the plethora of bureaucratic changes and new research centers to follow (“Chinese Military Creates New Strategic Planning Department,” China... MORE

Since September, the residents of the Guangdong village Wukan have clashed with authorities over local government land seizures. Last week, however, Xue Jinbo, a village representative trying to negotiate with local officials, died in police custody with reportedly visible signs of torture, such as blood... MORE

On November 22, Chinese President Hu Jintao and the Central Military Commission (CMC) issued a directive creating a “Strategic Planning Department” (zhanlüe guihua bu). The new department will fall under the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) General Staff Department as the twelfth such unit (Xinhua, November... MORE

On November 1, Chinese security officials and their counterparts from Burma, Laos and Thailand announced a new security initiative to make the Mekong River safe for commerce as it passes through the volatile "Golden Triangle." The four parties issued a joint statement indicating they will... MORE

Plenum Document Highlights Broad Role for Social Management From October 15 to 18, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) convened the 6th Plenum of the 17th Central Committee to address China's evolving cultural milieu. On October 25, the CCP released the resolution entitled "CCP Central Committee... MORE

China’s European Satellite Launch Sets New Milestones On October 7, a Chinese Long March-3 rocket blasted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan Province, delivering a French Eutelsat communications satellite into orbit. This marked the first Chinese launch of a Western communications satellite since the... MORE

On September 27, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) announced the national launch of "police microblogging construction" (gong’an weibo jianshe) as the newest element in its social management toolkit and public security informationization (MPS.gov.cn, September 27; People’s Daily, September 27). To prepare the national launch... MORE

With the summer winding down along with the tensions in the South China Sea, China engaged the principle disputants of this round of regional tensions. China hosted Philippine President Benigno Aquino III for a five-day state visit beginning August 30. In Beijing, Chinese and Vietnamese... MORE