Latest China Brief Articles

Hu-Fukuda Summit: The East China Sea Dispute

The primary outcome of Hu Jintao’s recent visit to Japan was a joint statement between the Chinese president and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, issued on May 7. According to this statement the leaders agreed to make the East China Sea a sea of “peace,... MORE

From Tiananmen to the Sichuan Quake: A Profile of Wen Jiabao

The well-coordinated, massive relief and propaganda efforts organized by the central government are called by some international observers the most pronounced phenomenon emerging from China's recent natural devastations (People's Daily Online, May 22). But the government in Beijing has always been keen on organizing massive... MORE

Quake Lakes Spur Rethinking of China’s Dam Building Strategy

One of the tragic ironies of the recent earthquake in China is that it has created numerous new, extremely dangerous dams in a country that already is the most dam populated country on earth. At more than 85,000 dams and counting, Chinese leaders already boast... MORE

Beijing’s Regional Strategy and China-ASEAN Economic Integration

China is leading the new wave of regional cooperation in Southeast Asia, and China-driven mechanisms for regional cooperation look set to overwhelm all possible areas of economic and political cooperation. For economic, security, diplomatic and military reasons, China has been developing stronger relationships with Association... MORE

Instability in Tibet and Its Repercussions for Xinjiang

Since March 10, unrest in the Tibet Autonomous Region—in spite of the Chinese government efforts at keeping it secret—punctured China’s Great Wall as news, pictures and videos flooded the internet, and each day there appears to be news about protests that emerge not only in... MORE

The New Face of Civil Disobedience in Tibet

The Chinese government is now locking down Tibet while attempting to placate the outside world by meeting with the Dalai Lama’s representatives. Beijing’s harsh policing of Tibet is consistent with the tough line the government has taken in previous crackdowns in both 1959 and in... MORE

Sanya Nuclear Submarine Base Shakes Asian Neighbors

On April 21, commercial satellite images on DigitalGlobe confirmed reports that China is building a major underground nuclear submarine base near Sanya, the southernmost city of Hainan Island, which is located on China’s southeastern coast (DigitalGlobe). Digital images taken of the base in December 2007... MORE

Child Labor Ring Exposed in Guangdong

In a two-day operation completed on April 30, local police in Dongguan municipality, Guangdong Province, executed a high profile rescue operation that police reports claim rescued 167 children trafficked from the poverty-stricken Liangshan region in Sichuan, the Southern Metropolitan Daily reported (China Times, May 1).... MORE