China created a stir late last year when it announced that the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) would commence policing the Gulf of Aden for Somali pirates. Two PLAN destroyers and a combat logistics ship arrived on station off the Horn of Africa this past... MORE

While an anti-corruption campaign has been launched almost annually since the start of the reform era in 1978, there are reasons to believe the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is committing more resources to tackling graft this year. Clean governance and the allied goal of “party... MORE

Following a dismal H1 performance (January – May) for China's shipbuilding industry (SIB)—new orders received by Chinese shipbuilders decreased by 96 percent year-on-year (yoy), with a net of 1.18 million deadweight tons (DWT)—the sector posted a substantial boost of 8.8 million DWT in new orders... MORE

During the violent ethnic clashes between the Turkic Uyghurs and Han Chinese, in China's northwestern province of Xinjiang on July 5-6, Sino-Turkish relations soured as a result of Turkish public opinion and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan harshly criticizing the Chinese government's handling of the... MORE

On August 10, Kyrgyz authorities detained Dilmurat Akbarov, the leader of the Ittipak Uyghur society, and his deputy Jamaldin Nasyrov. These leaders had organized demonstrations calling for an independent investigation into last month's riots in Xinjiang. They featured images and posters accusing Beijing of implementing... MORE

With much attention focused on China’s growing naval, shipbuilding and port infrastructure developments, it is easy to forget another important dimension of China’s maritime rise: China’s status as a major global fishing power.  With a total haul of over 17 million tons in 2007, China’s... MORE

On April 21, 2009, China formally concluded an agreement to lend $25 billion to Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft and pipeline monopoly Transneft in exchange for the completion of an oil pipeline from Skovorodino in Russia to Daqing in China.  Russian commentators claim that the... MORE

The outbreak of ethno-sectarian unrest in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Autonomous Region (XAR) between members of the local Uighur community, an ethnic Turkic population that is predominantly Sunni Muslim, and ethnic Han Chinese, China’s majority ethnic group, has largely subsided on the surface.  The hostilities began... MORE

As the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) marked its 82nd birthday on August 1, the Hu Jintao leadership has taken several major initiatives to raise the quality of its senior personnel. President and Commander-in-chief Hu has also given a big boost to military modernization by pledging... MORE

A string of Chinese reports, which appeared in recent weeks leading to and following the People's Liberation Army (PLA) 82nd birthday on August 1, seems to indicate that a debate over reforming China's seven military regions is maturing. A major reform to the existing PLA's... MORE