Official statistical data released recently says Kazakhstan, which marks its twentieth year of independence this December, has produced around 900 million tons of oil over the last 20 years. Lyazzat Kiynov, deputy minister of the oil and gas industry, announced the government’s plans to increase... MORE

Zulkifli bin Hir (a.k.a. Zulkifli Abdkhir), who goes most frequently by the alias Marwan, is the highest ranking of the 20-30 active Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorists in the Philippines. The Philippine government intensified its manhunt for Marwan on May 1, 2011 because he has the... MORE

Moscow has indicated its interest in increasing trade with China but a major bilateral gas deal remained elusive. During talks with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, in Moscow on June 16, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed what he described as the positive development of bilateral... MORE

Moscow has indicated its interest in increasing trade with China, but a major bilateral gas deal remained elusive. During talks with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, in Moscow on June 16, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed what he described as the positive development of bilateral... MORE

Almost completely overshadowed by the death of Osama bin Laden, jihadi publishing house Sawt al-Islam released a bilingual video from the Turkistan Islamic Party in mid-May. [1] The video recounted various historic grievances held by western China’s Muslim Uyghur people against Chinese communist rule while... MORE

China’s President, Hu Jintao, signed important political and trade documents during his June 18 – 20 visit to Ukraine, winding up his CIS tour in which he also visited Kazakhstan and Russia. While Beijing is interested mainly in military-technical cooperation, Kyiv views China as primarily... MORE

While the developed world, including the United States and other Western European countries, has been sluggish in both economic recovery and energy demand, China has experienced major power shortages in recent months, seriously threatening the efforts to sustain the still fragile recover process. The world’s... MORE

The ongoing political paralysis in Nepal—caused by the small Himalayan nation's inability to draft a Constitution—coupled with the rise of Maoists as a major political force in Nepal’s mainstream politics have created the ideal conditions for Beijing to increase its leverage and influence over Nepal.... MORE

As China’s maiden aircraft carrier nears its sea trials one question that evades analysts’ minds is why China is building a carrier. For many of the carrier’s potential missions: from “recovering” Taiwan; to “solving” the Paracel, Spratly and Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands disputes; to “safeguarding” China’s... MORE

Chinese Chief Justice Wang Shengjun’s advocacy of out-of-court mediation as a favored means of settling civil disputes and “enhancing social harmony” has raised concerns about the further deterioration of the country’s rule of law and judicial independence. At a recent seminar for senior judges, Wang,... MORE