Latest Articles about China and the Asia-Pacific
Team Tsai Ing-wen: a Who’s Who of the New Cabinet
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen took office on May 20 with no shortage of challenges ahead. Her inaugural speech focused on five specific areas: transforming economic structures; strengthening the social safety net; addressing social fairness and justice; promoting regional peace, stability and cross-Strait relations; and contributing... MORE
Xi Visits China’s Northeast, Emphasizes Revitalization, Environment and Food Security
Chinese President and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping has visited China’s northeastern most province of Heilongjiang. The visit, on May 23–25, included a number of towns along the border with Russia. Xi’s inspection visits are not just a prime photo opportunity. This is his... MORE
BRIEFS
Nigeria: Another Small Victory Against Boko Haram According to reports this month, Nigerian troops uncovered a Boko Haram bomb-making factory near the border town of Ngala, Borno State, Nigeria. Army spokesman Sani Kukasheka Usma, keen to promote the find as the latest success in Nigeria’s... MORE
Addressing Rising Business Risk in China
As the People’s Republic of China (PRC) celebrated its first-ever National Security Day, anti-foreigner sentiment appears to have been made an official part of the Chinese state’s increased vigilance. A widely circulated cartoon depicted a stereotyped Western man seducing an unwitting Chinese woman into espionage... MORE
The Human and Organizational Dimensions of the PLA’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems
PLA theorists see unmanned operations (无人作战) as integral elements of future warfare. For instance, in a January 2016 article, Xiao Tianliang, editor of the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University’ 2015 edition of The Science of Military Strategy, alluded to “unmanned systems autonomous operations” (无人系统独立作战)... MORE
The Eclipse of the Communist Youth League and the Rise of the Zhejiang Clique
Power struggle is not a dinner party. Internecine bickering and back-stabbing among rival factions and personalities are intensifying as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) prepares for its 19th Congress next year. Apart from constructing a Maoist-style personality cult around himself, Chinese President Xi Jinping is... MORE
A Mass Line for the Digital Age
At an April 19 conference on “internet work,” Chinese President Xi Jinping instructed cadres to listen to “constructive criticism” from the public online, calling for changes to the way the Chinese government manages online public opinion and criticizing the practice of broadly censoring comments on... MORE
Love as a Propaganda Machine: A Profile of Islamic State’s Jihadist-Love Culture Propagandist, “Shams”
Halla Diyab The Islamic State’s (IS) construction of a revolutionary jihadist-love culture and its perpetuation of a narrative that stands in deep contrast to the barbaric atrocities of the group demonstrates the organization’s attempts to romanticize the jihadist experience to gain sympathy and support from... MORE
Moscow Invites Chinese Factories to Move to the Russian Far East
Chemical, metallurgical and cement plants may soon be transferred from their current locations across northern China to the Russian Far East. This was the agreement reached in early April 2016, during Russian Minister for Far East Development Alexander Galushka’s visit to Beijing. The feasibility of... MORE
Taiwanese Navy Plans to Enhance Fleet Air Defense
Despite the pivotal position Taiwan plays in the military planning of the People’s Republic of China and the United States, defense issues played a mostly negligible role in Taiwan’s January 16 presidential and legislative elections. However, the desire for a stronger indigenous arms industry has... MORE