In a May 9 interview with Brazilian defense, strategy and intelligence news website Defasanet, Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim stated that Brazil and China had reached an agreement to train personnel from the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in Brazil. In the interview (available in... MORE

Recent reports within the Chinese press revealed that sales of a Chinese state-owned military conglomerate that produces equipments and arms for both civilian and military applications have rose substantially in the first quarter of 2009. A case in point is the Beijing-based China South Industries... MORE

According to official Chinese media reports, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will hold a massive two-month long military drill that will involve 50,000 troops from four divisions across four of China’s seven military commands in the second half of 2009. Citing a source from the... MORE

Recent reports circulating in the Chinese press indicate that Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Company Limited—one of China’s oldest state-owned shipbuilding company regarded as the “cradle of China’s national [shipbuilding] industry”—could be slated by Beijing to carry out the Chinese military’s long-standing mission to build an indigenous... MORE

Several reports appeared in recent weeks in the Taiwanese media about the possibility that President Ma Ying-jeou’s administration has restarted a program to build indigenously designed diesel submarines. According to various reports citing sources close to Taiwan’s National Security Council (NSC), the “Project Diving Dragon,”... MORE

According to information circulated in the Chinese media, during the meeting between Chinese Defense Minister General Liang Guanglie and Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada on March 20, wherein General Liang confirmed China's intent to develop aircraft carriers, a mysterious unit was reportedly present at the... MORE

A string of recent pronouncements from Beijing leaders capped off with a strong statement by Premier Wen Jiabao over his concerns for the value of China's $681.9 billion investment in U.S. Treasury bonds has highlighted a troubled Chinese leadership's outlook for 2009. Premier Wen's statement... MORE

In recent years, party officials in the People's Republic of China (PRC) have been uncharacteristically bold in speaking about freedom (ziyou) and democracy (minzhu), both long-standing taboos in the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) private and public lexicon. Analysts who monitor developments in China attribute this... MORE

The ruling party in Taiwan, the Kuomintang (KMT), is engulfed in another intelligence-related gaffe. A string of domino-like events that began with a report in the United Daily News, one of Taiwan's major newspapers with close ties to the ruling party, which reported that a... MORE

The top-brass of the Chinese leadership started the Lunar New Year on a sprint. The year of the ox, which began on January 26 in the Gregorian calendar, was marked by fervent planning for Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s trip to the World Economic Forum in... MORE