At a banquet to welcome visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao in April 2005, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo proclaimed that in view of China’s eagerness to invest in the country’s crumbling infrastructure, booming Philippine exports to the PRC, and a recently concluded agreement among the... MORE

On February 9, 2008 the Burmese government announced a plan for an unprecedented referendum on a new constitution, which will be held in May, to be followed by a multi-party election in 2010 (Agence France-Presse, February 9). On February 19, the government declared that the... MORE

A source of serious interstate tension between some members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China for much of the 1990s, territorial disputes in the South China Sea became less contentious in the early 2000s: A less assertive stance by China being... MORE

Liu Guchang, the Chinese ambassador to Russia, announced that the demarcation of borders for the Heixiazi Island (Bol’shoi Ussuriiskiy Island) is complete and the island will be officially returned to the People's Republic of China's (PRC) jurisdiction by the end of 2008 (China Times, March... MORE

Since 1990, China has contributed about 7,500 peacekeepers to United Nations peacekeeping operations (UNPKOs), according to the Peacekeeping Affairs Office of the Ministry of Defense in Beijing (China Daily, July 24, 2007). In early 2008, 1,963 Chinese peacekeepers were serving on UN missions in countries... MORE

While much of the attention on China’s emergence onto the global economic stage as an industrial powerhouse has focused on the accumulation of its massive trade surpluses, most Western observers probing Beijing’s interest in Africa’s rich natural resources have concentrated on the Middle Kingdom’s seemingly... MORE

Indian journalists traveling with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh noted that the flight was bumpy and the weather freezing when they arrived in Beijing. Yet Singh’s first visit to China turned out to be warm and smooth. While underlying Sino-Indian tensions were far from being laid... MORE

On February 26, Admiral Takashi Saito, chief of the Joint Staff Office of Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF), started a four-day visit to China at the invitation of Chen Binde, chief of general staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Saito's trip marks the highest-ranking visit... MORE

World leaders, including PRC President Hu Jintao, offered congratulations to Lee Myung-bak following his election as South Korea’s next president on December 19, 2007. Hu’s message stressed his desire to expand “good neighborly and friendly relations” with South Korea and his hope that “strengthen[ed] coordination... MORE

On January 21, the Taiwan-based newspaper United Daily News reported that a C-130 transport aircraft in the Taiwan (ROC) Air Force conducted a one-day mission to the Spratly Islets, whose sovereignty is contested by Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, China, Malaysia and the Philippines (United Daily News... MORE