A new agreement between the PRC and the Vatican on the joint appointment of bishops demonstrates that the administration of CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping appears to have won a modicum of international approval for its domestic religious policy. The deal went forward despite substantial... MORE

An August 31 hearing of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) marked the first appearance of Hu Lianhe (胡联合; literally, “Hu the Uniter”) on the global stage. Until recently Hu, one of the leading figures of a new generation of... MORE

After the week-long Vostok 2018 large-scale Russian strategic maneuvers ended on September 17 and the initial hot takes went to press, the Russian blog Naspravdi rebutted Western observations, declaring, “[I]f we consider that America, from time immemorial has only understood the language of power, I... MORE

Russia holds a major operational-strategic military exercise annually. And this year’s Vostok 2018 war game, which ran from September 11 to 17, received considerable foreign attention due both to its reported size, cast as the largest since Zapad 1981, and the inclusion of forces from... MORE

Contrary to popular perception, the Chinese Communist Party’s control over online discourse is not absolute; complete control would be impractical in a country as large, diverse, and dynamic as the PRC. In reality, China’s internet is a battlefield, upon which aggrieved socioeconomic groups renegotiate social... MORE

Almost immediately after assuming office in 2012, CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping kicked off a brutal anti-corruption campaign whose stated goal was to curb rampant official self-dealing. However, most observers agree that, like many high-level PRC campaigns, Xi’s anti-corruption push was also a political purge,... MORE

President Xi Jinping seems to have resumed his status as “leadership core” and primary decision-maker after a two-month period of adopting a low profile within the party. The leader was blamed for self-aggrandizement by abrogating term limits to the state presidency, and more importantly, a... MORE

China and Myanmar have been widely expected to sign a 15-point Memorandum of Understanding on the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor by the end of this year (Global Times, June 26). However, this mega project, a key component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), may have... MORE

This is the second in a series of two articles that examine the establishment of the PLA Rocket Force (PLARF) and its implications for PLA warfighting and deterrence capabilities. While part 1 reviewed the drivers and motivations behind the creation of the PLARF and compares... MORE

The Russian minister of defense, Army General Sergei Shoigu, and his first deputy, the chief of the General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov, took over the country’s Armed Forces in November 2012. Shoigu, a civilian construction engineer with no military background, had served for over... MORE