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Latest Articles about China and the Asia-Pacific
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China Quietly Displacing Both Russia and US From Central Asia
Since 1991, the influence of the Russian Federation in Central Asia has been on the decline, and many have assumed that the United States would move in to fill the resulting vacuum. US influence has indeed increased, at least in certain countries of that strategically... MORE
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ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations at 25
During his remarks at the 18th ASEAN-China Summit last November in Kuala Lumpur, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang lauded the “new progress” that could be made in the relationship between the two sides as they prepared to commemorate the 25th anniversary of their dialogue partnership in... MORE
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Growing PLA Transparency as a Means of Employing Soft Power Part 2: PLA External Signaling since the 18th Party Congress
This article, the second of a two-part series, examines the PLA’s use of soft power for external signaling. The first article, available, here examines Chinese military soft power as part of internal signaling. As noted in part one of this series, China has made major... MORE
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Missile Defense in Korea Further Roils US-Russian Relations
Europe is not the only theater of acute discord between Russia and the United States; nor is the alleged militarization of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) the only issue that angers Moscow in this context. Russian ire over US policy also focuses on, and... MORE
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Snapshot: China’s Southern Theater Command
On December 31, 2015 China began a major overhaul of its structure military organizational structure. This included the abolition of the seven previous Military Regions (军区) and the creation of five Theater Commands (战区) (See China Brief, February 4 and February 23). Many units previously under... MORE
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China’s Great Fishnet
With the announcement that the Permanent Court of Arbitration will rule on July 12 on its case between the Philippine and Chinese governments regarding China’s territorial claims in the South China Seas, tensions in the area are coming to a head (Court of Arbitration, June... MORE
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A Force for Cyber Anarchy or Cyber Order? —PLA Perspectives on ‘Cyber Rules’
In early June, the Eighth Round of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) “welcomed” apparent progress on cyber security, an issue that has been among the most contentious aspects of this bilateral relationship in recent years (U.S. Department of State, June 7). As the... MORE
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Africa: China’s Laboratory for Third World Security Cooperation
China’s interests and exposure in Africa have grown exponentially over the past two decades. China became Africa’s largest trading partner in 2009 and continues to hold the lead by a wide margin. China is the largest bilateral funding source for infrastructure projects, nearly all of... MORE
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Growing PLA Transparency as a Means of Employing Soft Power, Part 1: PLA Internal Signaling Since the 18th Party Congress
As China emerges during the 21st Century as a strong regional power with a growing global footprint, the role of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as a means of employing “military soft power” (军事软实力) has garnered close scrutiny both internally and externally from multiple perspectives,... MORE