Latest China Brief Articles
New Advances in PLA Battlefield Aerospace and ISR
A profound transformation is taking place in Chinese battlefield aerospace, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLAs) xinxihua zhanchang (informationalized battlefield) program is assisting its armed forces in attaining information domination on the battlefield. As part of this program, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems are undergoing... MORE
Recent Trends in Russo-Chinese Military Relations
The Russo-Chinese relationship is a multi-dimensional one. Thus progress in each aspect of those ties is uneven. For instance, Russia has consistently failed to satisfy China’s demands for energy, which Russia regards as being excessively one-sided insofar as the apportionment of benefits is concerned. China... MORE
Commodity Flux and China’s Africa Strategy
The commodity price decline has revealed to the Africans something of the nature of their friends. During the commodity price boom, China invested massively in Africa seeking to lock up as many raw materials as possible. Some in academia spoke confidently of China having a... MORE
Chinese State Media Goes Global: A Great Leap Outward for Chinese Soft Power?
Even as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is projecting hard power across the four corners of the earth, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is mapping out a multi-pronged strategy to publicize globally the apparent viability of the “China model.” The administration of President Hu Jintao... MORE
CCP Provincial Committees’ Reports Highlight Growing Wealth and Urban-Rural Inequality
According to the provincial Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) second plenary committees' work report collected by Guangdong-based newspaper Nanfang Daily, the gap between the rich and poor is growing wider in many provinces of China. Among China’s 31 provinces (including municipalities and autonomous regions), 26 provinces... MORE
Future Prospects of China’s Policy on Climate Change
China’s economic boom has made the country a dominant producer of man made greenhouse gases (GHG). Since 1978, China’s fuel combustion carbon dioxide (CO2) emission has quadrupled, reaching 5,664 Mt in 2006 and 6,110 Mt in 2007 [1]. In comparison, the United States emitted 5,826... MORE
Chinese Inroads in DR Congo: A Chinese “Marshall Plan” or Business?
Since achieving independence five decades ago The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been ravaged by a dictatorship, war and political strife. Although large in territory and rich in mineral and other precious raw materials, the DRC is a failed state that has been seemingly... MORE
China’s Gulf of Aden Expedition and Maritime Cooperation in East Asia
The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has deployed two warships and a supply ship to the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the coast of Somalia on an "anti-piracy mission." To many observers of Chinese foreign policy, this decision appears to break from Beijing’s... MORE
China Flaunts Growing Naval Capabilities
The year 2009 is set to become a watershed in the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) development into a force capable of long-distance, multi-pronged power projection. This is despite the perception that owing to the global recession, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership under President Hu... MORE
Hu Jintao’s ‘Six-Points’ Proposition to Taiwan
On the eve of 2009, the President of the People’s Republic of China and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee, Hu Jintao, delivered a capstone speech commemorating the 30th anniversary of the "Message to Compatriots in Taiwan" (Xinhua News Agency, December... MORE