In few other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have the strategic objectives of China been as clear as in its relationship with Costa Rica. Yet in few other countries has the PRC experienced so many difficulties compared to the level of effort invested.... MORE

During the roughly six months since China suffered its first-ever car bombing in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on October 31, 2013, China has witnessed a series of other terrorist attacks on its territory. Such attacks included a mass stabbing at a train station in Kunming that... MORE

Over the past few weeks, tensions in the South China Sea have once again bedeviled relations between China and the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). On May 1, China deployed a giant oil rig in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) with... MORE

While tensions in the South China Sea have gone from bad to worse, with riots in Vietnam targeting Chinese businesses and a range of ASEAN states exploring ways to counter Chinese actions (see “Challenged by China, ASEAN States Seek Common Response,” in this issue), Xi’s... MORE

Traditionally, Indian policy toward China has been mostly characterized by continuity. As far as Beijing is concerned, in spite of regime change in the past, India has pursued steady engagement with its northern neighbor. Now that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the nationalist... MORE

A week ago, after the boost of patriotic emotions in the Victory Day celebrations and the blatantly fake quasi-referenda in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions (see EDM, May 12, 14), Russia appeared ready to make a decisive move into eastern Ukraine. The procedure of voting... MORE

Since Chinese President Xi Jinping first proposed establishing “New Type of Great Power Relations” (NTGPR) between the U.S. and China, many have been discussing the true meaning of the phrase for Washington [1]. However, the NTGPR concept is not purely Xi’s policy invention, but a... MORE

There is no consensus in the Chinese expert community regarding the time frame of the next North Korean nuclear test. However, the policy debate that started with the rise of the “abandonment school” after the third nuclear test, which occurred in February last year, has... MORE

Xi Jinping's new concept of “overall national security” (zongti guojiaanquan) was put to the test on April 30, when two alleged terrorists struck at the Urumqi Railway Station just a few hours after the President and Commander-in-Chief left Xinjiang after a four-day inspection trip. At... MORE

Official media publicly credited Guangdong elements of the Ministry of State Security (MSS) with breaking open an espionage case last week in which the chief suspect received a ten-year prison sentence. An unnamed foreign intelligence service reportedly recruited the suspect, one “Mr. Li,” in an... MORE