Speaking at the Belt and Road Forum, in Beijing (April 25–27), President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia is “considering a merger between the Northern Sea Route [the segment of the Northeast Passage running along the Russian coast] and the Chinese ‘Maritime Silk Road’ initiative,” which... MORE

China is increasingly facing transnational jihadist threats as a result of the long-standing plight of its ethnic Uighur Muslim citizens, who are mostly concentrated in the country’s northwestern region of Xinjiang (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region). Amid mounting Western criticism of China’s handling of its minorities in... MORE

Representatives of Turkish, Azerbaijani and Russian railways inked a cooperation memorandum on May 6, 2019, in Ankara, to leverage the potential of the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars (BTK) railway and increase the volume of freight carried along the route (Azertag.az, May 6). “The tripartite cooperation will boost the... MORE

On May 3, United States President Donald Trump phoned Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and had “a long and very good conversation” discussing “trade, Venezuela, Ukraine, North Korea, Nuclear Arms Control and even the ‘Russian Hoax’ [sic],” according to Trump. The two leaders did not talk... MORE

Introduction In 2017 a Chinese company, CEFC China Energy, made international headlines when Patrick Ho Chi-ping, the General Secretary of its non-profit wing China Energy Fund Committee, was arrested in the United States on charges of bribing officials at the United Nations, in Chad, and... MORE

Introduction—The Growing Role of the CCP’s United Front Work The structure and functions of organizations within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are often poorly documented. However, buried inside a January 2019 Global Times article was a reference to “a deputy head of the 12th bureau... MORE

Author’s note: This article follows from an article previously published in China Brief in February 2018: “The United Front Work Department in Action Abroad: A Profile of The Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China” (February 13, 2018). That article presented evidence... MORE

Introduction—A New Approach to United Front Work in Central and Eastern Europe In the era of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping, “united front work” (tongyi zhanxian gongzuo, 统一战线工作) has taken on greater significance and a global scale (China Brief, April 24, 2018;... MORE

Introduction—The United Front and “Mixing Sand” in Australia Political organizations with links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are active inside Australia’s two main political parties and using their growing influence to promote Beijing’s interests. Unlike Russia, which the U.S. intelligence community has concluded carried... MORE

Four years ago, Nigerian military sources said the country’s decision to shift to Russian military training and arms supplies was only an “interim measure” after its traditional partners, from the United States and the United Kingdom, seemingly showed insufficient interest in Nigeria’s fight against Boko... MORE