The end of the mass line campaign’s second phase this month provides an opportunity to understand more clearly what has been happening politically at the grassroots level in China over the last year. The Chinese press has reported at length on the crackdown against Chinese... MORE

Part 2: The Patronage Network of Hu Jintao Jiang shì lao de là: “Aged ginger is spicier” Chinese proverb meaning that older people possess more experience and wisdom. The triumph of Jiang Zemin in elevating prominent protégés into the ranks of the Politburo Standing Committee... MORE

The involvement of Russia in the current turbulent situation in southeastern Ukraine most likely did not surprise Uzbekistan’s government, as it saw the parallels with the wars in Georgia in 2008 and in Transnistria in 1990. For President Islam Karimov, the situation in Ukraine most... MORE

On September 27, Chinese President Xi Jinping celebrated “Confucius Institute Day,” commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the first Institute’s founding in November 2004, in South Korea. Yet this self-congratulatory atmosphere was clouded by increasing criticism of the Confucius Institute program in the United States, which... MORE

Part 1: The Patronage Network of Jiang Zemin Jiang shì lao de la: “Aged ginger is spicier” Chinese proverb meaning that older people possess more experience and wisdom. When the new senior leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was revealed to the world following... MORE

South Sudan relapsed into war on December 15, 2013, primarily due to the power struggle between South Sudan President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar. China once again found one of its sizable foreign investments—particularly in the oil sector—embroiled in local political turbulence.... MORE

In July, Western media reported that China’s Middle East envoy, Ambassador Wu Sike, estimated that as many as 100 Chinese citizens are believed to be members of the Islamic State organization (previously known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Syria and Iraq (Xinhua, July 29). [1] While... MORE

China plans to develop a Silk Road economic belt that spans the Eurasian continent and a maritime Silk Road that links the Pacific with the Indian Ocean. We can see on a map that the two Silk Roads will cross in the Middle East region,... MORE

Russian ties with Japan have clearly suffered serious damage due to Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine. Apparently, there will not be a visit by Russian President Putin to Japan anytime soon, despite previous wishes for such a trip by both sides (Asahi Shimbun AJW, September 24).... MORE

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s six-day trip to South Asia during September 14–19, on state visits to the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India, redoubled China’s efforts to increase its presence in the Indian Ocean while also trying to improve its relations with neighboring India. Xi signed... MORE