Latest China Brief Articles
China’s Booming Energy Relations with Africa
With continuous economic growth averaging an astonishing annual rate of 10 percent over the past quarter century, China has transformed its landscape, become one of the largest economic powerhouses on earth, created development opportunities for its trading partners around the world and, in the process,... MORE
Competing Interests Divide U.S. China Policy
The National Security Strategy of the United States (NSS) released in March states, "The United States will welcome the emergence of a China that is peaceful and prosperous and that cooperates with us to address common challenges and mutual interests." President George W. Bush used... MORE
China Looks beyond Koizumi in its Japan Diplomacy
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is reportedly preparing for another visit to the Yasukuni Shrine where World War II war criminals are being honored among the war dead. If he carries out his sixth homage before stepping down as the prime minister in September, Tokyo’s... MORE
Hu and the PLA
In its recently published report on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the Pentagon focused on the lack of transparency of the PLA’s budget, as well as the generals’ shift of emphasis from merely tackling Taiwan separatism to also targeting U.S. aircraft carriers and submarines in... MORE
The PLA’s New Calculus for Force Posture
“All warfare is based on deception,” Sun Tzu declared. Historically, China has faithfully adopted this maxim by launching a diplomatic offensive prior to military action either to deceive other countries of its true intentions or to justify its actions. Chinese Defense Minister and Vice Chairman... MORE
Interpreting the Significance of CCP Personnel Changes
Large-scale personnel changes are taking place in provinces, cities, counties and townships all over China. Top cadres of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as well as its Organization Department, have in the past month issued repeated warnings against factionalism, corruption and "the wanton buying and... MORE
Burgeoning China-Yemen Ties Showcase Beijing’s Middle East Strategy
On the surface, Chinese President Hu Jintao's invitation to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh for his historic six-day long visit to China in April represents a natural extension of Beijing's efforts to increase its energy security amidst tightening global energy supplies. Beijing's goal of expanding... MORE
PLA Doctrine on Securing Energy Resources in Central Asia
An article in the April edition of the Far Eastern Economic Review, written by two senior Chinese academics, reveals that China would go to war to secure its energy needs [1]. For the past few years, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has reorganized the army... MORE
Mirroring Taiwan: China and Cuba
On the surface, Sino-Cuba relations may be difficult to take seriously. Hu Jintao heads the world’s largest and most explosively developing county while Fidel Castro stands astride a faraway, skinny island with one of the most stagnant economies in the world. In 1960 Cuba was... MORE
China and the “other” West: The European Union, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
While the world is focused on China’s relations with the United States following Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington, China’s relations with the “other” West—the European Union, Canada, Australia and New Zealand—have been of increasing importance in recent years, especially in achieving China’s foreign... MORE