
Latest Articles about China and the Asia-Pacific

Beijing’s Record Revenue Haul Exacerbates Central-Local Tensions
While the world is still angst-ridden with the fragile recovery from the global financial crisis, there seems no end to auspicious tidings coming out of China. Riding on the back of robust exports–which grew by 33.2 percent the first half of the year–China’s economy is... MORE

Aims and Motives of China’s East China Sea Live Fire Drills
The Chinese Ministry of National Defense announced on June 24 that all vessels would be prohibited from entering areas located east of Zhoushan to Taizhou city in Zhejiang in the East China Sea from June 30 to July 5. During that time period, the People’s... MORE

Shangri-La Dialogue Highlights Tensions in Sino-U.S. Relations
Strained relations between the United States and China took center stage during the June 4-6 Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) in Singapore, the annual meeting of Asia Pacific defense ministers, military officers, diplomats and academics organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and attended... MORE

Reorientation of China’s Armed Forces: Implications for the Future Promotions of PLA Generals
Recent discourse concerning the Chinese People’s Liberation Army's (PLA) modernization has principally focused on technological advances and less on the human dimension of PLA force transformation. In particular, a review of these discussions revealed the absence of a publicly available database of Chinese military leaders... MORE

The Changing Face of PLA Political Education
In mid-April, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched its second annual large-scale military pre-recruitment campaign, designed to attract the best and brightest in Chinese universities into the nation’s armed forces. By the end of May, Xinhua announced that the campaign had already resulted in 100,000... MORE

China’s New Aristocracy: Red Cadres and Red-Hat Businessmen
The scandal of Li Qihong, the female mayor of the Guangdong Province boom town of Zhongshan, highlights a backsliding of corruption in Chinese politics. Particularly, the increasing collusion between party cadres and businessmen has made the issue more acute. Even as the Chinese Communist Party... MORE

Major Reforms in the 12th Five-Year Plan?
As Western economies struggle to stave off contagion, Chinese leaders have been quietly working to chart the Middle Kingdom's triumphant return to the world's center stage. According to the most recent issue of Outlook Magazine (Liaowang), a weekly published by the official Xinhua News Agency,... MORE

Moscow Seeks Room to Maneuver as Crisis on the Korean Peninsula Intensifies
The sinking of the Republic of Korea’s (ROK) Corvette, Cheonan, on March 26, has proven to be a slow-building crisis, but one fraught with grave risks of conflict on the Korean peninsula. Moscow’s response has revealed much about the limits affecting Russian policy in the... MORE

The China-Pakistan Reactor Deal and Asia’s Nuclear Energy Race
In late April, China announced the sale of two nuclear reactors to Pakistan. This deal is clearly against the guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and the spirit if not the letter of the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) [1]. Nevertheless, the United States has not... MORE

U.S.-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue: Not Exactly a “Dialogue”
More than 200 American officials converged on Beijing in late May for the second U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. After two days of intensive discussions with their Chinese counterparts, the American side boasted of many accomplishments. The State Department, working on the "strategic" track of... MORE