
Latest Articles about China and the Asia-Pacific

Moscow Closes Okhotsk Sea to Outsiders
In a move that both exacerbates international conflicts in the Western Pacific and suggests how Moscow plans to proceed in the Arctic, Russian President Vladimir Putin has closed to all outside shipping and fishing the entire Sea of Okhotsk—some 52,000 square kilometers of water that... MORE

Chinese 3rd Generation Nuclear Technology Development
Globally, 295 new nuclear power plants are under construction or planned by 2030. The total aggregate value of the total build is estimated at $1.23 trillion, with international procurement worth approximately $26 billion per annum. [1] The size and prestige of this market has long... MORE

China Pursues Ambitious, but Risky, Financial Reforms
China’s leadership has, in the past year, announced many reforms to the Chinese economy, and especially the country's financial system. Some are slated to be implemented over time, while some are already in the process of being implemented. How can we distinguish between the two,... MORE

China’s Penetration of the Canadian Energy Market
China’s relentless global search for energy supplies has taken it from Central Asia to Sudan. But China imports oil from politically unstable nations such as inflation-ravaged Venezuela; Iran, constricted by international sanctions; and violence-ridden Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, increasing the... MORE

Further Rapprochement in Russo-Chinese Relations? Opportunities Versus Roadblocks
Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to visit China for a summit in May. In advance of that meeting, Russian sources are again claiming that an agreement on a gas pipeline will be reached between Gazprom and its Chinese partners. Allegedly, both sides have agreed... MORE

Cyber Transparency for Thee, But Not For Me
In Beijing, a reminder for Hagel that the U.S. and China face divergent incentives on cyber policy U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s latest trip to Beijing represented a new milestone in Sino-U.S. military-to-military information-sharing. According to media reports, the U.S. side laid out in detail the... MORE

PLA Joint Operations Developments and Military Reform
During recent high-level political meetings, Chinese leaders have made repeated calls for “military reform.” While these speeches have given little detail about the content of such reform, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), in particular PLA academics and theorists, appears to have a well-developed, complex and... MORE

Facing Grain Shortfalls, China Asserts Self-Sufficiency Policy
Demand for food in China is increasing at an unprecedented rate, as the Chinese become wealthier. In 2011, China became a net importer of rice, and imports of soybeans overtook domestic production in 2004. Changing Chinese appetites for grains and meats coupled with losses of... MORE

Sunflowers in Springtime: Taiwan’s Crisis and the End of an Era in Cross-Strait Cooperation
With two years left in the second and last term of Ma Ying-jeou’s presidency, Taiwan has been embroiled in a political crisis since March 18 that will have serious, and possibly long-lasting, repercussions on the dynamics within Ma’s Kuomintang (KMT) and the island’s relationship with... MORE

New High-Level Groups Threaten Line Between Party and Government
The Xi Jinping leadership is concentrating more powers in secretive leading groups and commissions at the apex of the Chinese Communist Party. These top-level decision-making and coordinating agencies—the Central National Security Commission (CNSC), the Central Leading Group on Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, and the Central Leading... MORE