A considerable degree of mistrust normally characterizes Sino-Indian relations. China sees India as a potential rival to its dreams of major power status in Asia and systematically tries to depreciate India's standing and capacities in all ways possible. Thus Indian observers, along with many foreign... MORE

Last April, former U.S. Ambassador Charles W. Freeman, Jr. told an audience at Stanford University that he was truly anxious about the prospect of a complete re-draft of Taiwan's constitution. [1] In his view, if war erupts in the Taiwan Strait, a new Taiwan (ROC)... MORE

Jiang Zemin's retirement may be just the opportunity some in China had hoped for. Not only democracy advocates, but also economic reformers within the Hu Jintao faction pushing for sustainable development policies, may have reason for optimism. Earlier this year, Beijing announced a new green... MORE

The year is 2008. The setting is the vast West Pacific region. To break the US-Japan-Taiwan military containment of China, the combined air, navy and armed forces of the Chinese Liberation Army (PLA), equipped with newly established carrier battle groups, have destroyed all U.S. military... MORE

The General Armament Department (GAD) was created in 1998 from parts of several existing national-level headquarters that dealt with various aspects of equipment development, acquisition, repair, and maintenance. With its formation, an additional senior PLA officer was added to the Central Military Commission (CMC) to... MORE

Less than one month after becoming China's undisputed supremo, President Hu Jintao has confirmed what the country's liberal intellectuals had feared all along. The 61-year-old Fourth Generation leader is much more concerned about firming up the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) grip on power than fostering... MORE

The recent Asian Cup finals in Beijing on August 7 could have constituted a watershed in Sino-Japanese relations and ironically launched a real rapprochement between Beijing and Tokyo. To the horror of the Japanese audience, Chinese fans in the Workers' Stadium in Beijing drowned the... MORE

President and Central Military Commission (CMC) Chairman Hu Jintao has moved swiftly to tighten his grip over the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The emphasis that the new commander-in-chief has put on flexing the nation's fast-growing military muscle has fed speculation that he will be taking... MORE

Based on its study of logistics requirements in modern conflicts starting with the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and their own performance in the 1979 "Defensive Counterattack" into Vietnam, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) included logistics reform as a basic component of its comprehensive modernization program... MORE

Investigating the degree of cooperation between the aerospace industries of Russia and China demands painstaking research. Chinese officials do not like to reveal details about their cooperation, while Russian officials will neither admit nor deny such information. In addition, Russian officials occasionally overstate the amount... MORE