First China-Made Plane Coming To U.S. Skies

Gordon G. Chang
Forbes
“This purchase marks the first time for any Chinese-made planes to enter an advanced market, and the U.S. has the highest standards, so this testifies to the achievement of Chinese aircraft manufacturing,” said Li Xianzhe of Avicopter to the South...

India-China Border Standoff: High in the Mountains, Thousands of Troops Go Toe-to-Toe

Gordon Fairclough
Wall Street Journal
The mountain standoff lasted weeks and at times involved tense shoving-and-shouting matches, according to Indian border-patrol troopers who participated. Both armies called in helicopters. The scale and duration of the clash are signs of mounting...

Ex-General in China Admits He Took Bribes, Report Says

Chris Buckley
New York Times
“Xu Caihou fully confessed to the facts of his bribetaking crimes,” said the brief Xinhua report. It did not give any details of who gave the bribes or how much Mr. Xu took.

Japan Builds Response to Chinese Area-Denial Strategy

Paul Kallender-Umezu
Defense News
Japan’s response to Chinese anti-access/area-denial threats rest on three planks: increasingly large helicopter carriers, next-generation 3,300-ton Soryu-class submarines and new Aegis destroyers.

China’s Aircraft Carrier Trouble—Spewing Steam and Losing Power

Robert Beckhusen
Medium
There’s no more of a conspicuous and potent symbol of China’s growing naval power than the aircraft carrier Liaoning.

Getting Real About China

Wesley K. Clark
New York Times
China’s harsh suppression of political dissent, from Hong Kong to Xinjiang, and its close ties to Russia, Iran and North Korea, have finally laid to rest the dream many Western leaders have had since the 1990s.

Media

08.27.14

A ‘School Bus and a Ferrari’

Communication between China and the United States can often resemble ships passing in the night—or planes passing through international airspace. But when it comes to this particularly fraught bilateral relationship, perhaps metaphors are best...

China’s Supersonic Submarine? Not Gonna Happen

Jeffrey Kluger
Time
To hear Chinese military sources tell it, the country is on its way to developing a submarine that can travel 6,100 mph—which is why you should never listen to Chinese military sources.

Vietnam PM Says Considering Legal Action Against China Over Disputed Waters

Rosemarie Francisco and Manuel Mogato
Reuters
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said his government was considering various "defense options" against China, including legal action, following the deployment of a Chinese oil rig to South China Sea waters Hanoi also claims.

China’s Xi Issues Veiled Warning to Asia Over Military Alliances

John Ruwitch
Reuters
Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared to warn some Asian nations about strengthening military alliances to counter China, saying this would not benefit regional security.

Sinica Podcast

03.31.14

The World War One Chinese Labor Corps

Kaiser Kuo & David Moser from Sinica Podcast
This week on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and David Moser are delighted to host Mark O’Neill, author of The Chinese Labour Corps, for a discussion of the Chinese contribution to World War One. As a comprehensive look into China’s role in The Great War, O’...

Growing Concern With China's Behavior at Sea: Senior U.S. Diplomat

Lesley Wroughton
Reuters
The United States has growing concerns that China's maritime claims in the disputed South China Sea are an effort to control oceans in the Asia-Pacific region, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.

China to Ramp Up Military Spending

Michael Forsythe
New York Times
China will spend $148 billion on its military this year, up from $139.2 billion in 2013, according to IHS Jane’s, a defense industry consulting and analysis company.

China Lashes Out at Japan Defence Plans

Al Jazeera
Japan will increase military spending by 2.6 percent over five years, leading China to accuse Tokyo of raising tensions.

Conversation

11.27.13

Why’s the U.S. Flying Bombers Over the East China Sea?

Chen Weihua, James Fallows & more
Chen Weihua:The Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) is not a Chinese invention. The United States, Japan and some 20 other countries declared such zones in their airspace long time ago.China’s announcement of its first ADIZ in the East China Sea...

Reports

10.01.13

Oil Security and Conventional War: Lessons From a China-Taiwan Air Scenario

Rosemary A. Kelanic
Council on Foreign Relations
In the past, conventional militaries were plagued by wartime oil shortages that severely undermined their battlefield effectiveness. But could oil shortages threaten military effectiveness in a large-scale conventional conflict today or in the...

Reports

09.10.13

Threading the Needle: Proposals for U.S. and Chinese Actions on Arms Sales to Taiwan

Piin-Fen Kok and David J. Firestein
EastWest Institute
The sale of U.S. arms to Taiwan has been an enduring source of friction between the United States and China. To China, Taiwan is a “core” interest. Though the United States publicly committed itself, through the August 17, 1982 Joint Communique with...

Books

08.05.13

China Threat?

Lionel Vairon
From the long-term threat of nuclear war between the U.S. and China, to the disappearance of the African elephant due to Chinese demand for ivory, each week brings a new round of critique and denunciation of the risks China poses to the stability of the entire planet. While critics raise a certain number of fundamental questions that bear asking about this nascent superpower, the answers put forth are usually based on ideological or economic considerations. Lionel Vairon systematically challenges these views in this first English language edition of China Threat?With an incisive review of China’s economic strategy, deployment of resources, national defence, political reform, ethnicity and religion, terrorism, and developments in human rights, Vairon amply demonstrates that China poses no threat to the world. On the contrary, China Threat? shows that China’s peaceful rise should be a matter of positive news across the globe.  —CN Times Books {chop}

More Passages Thru Sea of Japan

Global Times
China has the potential to become a non-hegemonic global power. Such potential, if not wasted, would be a great contribution to mankind.

(Editorial) Fate of the World Rests with SIno-U.S. Ties

Global Times
The gap between the strength of China and the US will narrow. Previous experiences in international politics will be viewed as realistic reasons to exacerbate tensions between the two sides. This is a dangerous era.

Reports

01.08.13

China, America, and the Pivot to Asia

Justin Logan
Luo Xiaoyuan
Cato Institute
Despite the United States’ focus on the Middle East and the Islamic world for the past decade, the most important international political developments in the coming years are likely to happen in Asia. The Obama administration has promoted a “pivot...

Why 'Breaking Bad' Should be Set in China

Eveline Chao
Motherboard
Records of large drug busts involving meth in recent years--an increasingly common occurrence--tend to show a trail that leads back to China.

China's Central Bank, Aircraft Carrier Style

Dinny McMahon and Carlos Tejada
Wall Street Journal
The People’s Bank of China will issue gold and silver coins celebrating the nation's first aircraft carrier. 

China Reshuffles Top Military

Benjamin Kang Lim
Reuters
Outgoing air force commander General Xu Qiliang, 62, promoted to vice-chairman of the military's top decision-making body. 

Reports

10.18.12

Cyber Detente Between the United States and China

Greg Austin and Franz-Stefan Gady
EastWest Institute
In May 2012, the United States and China agreed publicly for the first time to begin talks on military aspects of cybersecurity. The agenda and expectations for this process at the official level remain to be set. Through Track 2 processes some very...

Five Points on the Deeply Flawed U.S. Congress Huawei Report

Graham Webster
Transpacifica
Chinese telecomms firms painted as shady, but evidence to back up allegations is hidden in report's classified sections.

Flag Raising Ceremony Held on China’s First Aircraft Carrier

Barry van Wyk
Danwei
Various front pages in China today feature glowing reports of China’s first aircraft carrier on whose platform a flag raising ceremony was held yesterday. Yet the fact that it happened is just about everything we know for sure about the ship. The...

Reports

07.14.11

Strangers at Home: North Koreans in the South

International Crisis Group
As the number of defectors from North Korea arriving in the South has surged in the past decade, there is a growing understanding of how difficult it would be to absorb a massive flow of refugees. South Korea is prosperous and generous, with a...

Sinica Podcast

08.20.10

China’s Troubled Waters

Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy Goldkorn & more from Sinica Podcast
Are Chinese-American maritime relations running aground? The recent sinking of the South Korean corvette the Cheonan, most likely by China’s unruly client state North Korea, has led to the U.S.S. George Washington participating in naval exercises...

Reports

05.01.03

Chinese Military Power

Chair: Harold Brown, Vice Chair: Joseph Prueher, Director: Adam Segal
He Jianan
Council on Foreign Relations
The rise of China has long been a growing concern among US foreign policymakers. Of particular concern is the strength of Chinese military power and its relation to US military capability. This important report assesses the situation and concludes...