China’s Military Spending

A ChinaFile Conversation

By Dhruva Jaishankar, Dennis J. Blasko & more on March 6, 2018

On March 5, during the opening of the National People’s Congress, China’s annual parliament, Beijing announced it plans to spend U.S.$175 billion on its military in 2018, an 8.1 percent rise from 2017. China’s military budget is the world’s second highest, and roughly a quarter of what the United States spends. What message does Beijing’s new military budget figure send to the United States, and to China’s neighbors? How will the United States and China’s neighbors react to this move? And just how accurate of a number is the one that Beijing publicly reveals?

Operational Guide for Foreign NGOs Completing Annual Reports Online

on March 6, 2018

As detailed in a February 9 Ministry of Public Security WeChat post, the Beijing Public Security Bureau (PSB) Foreign NGO Management Office held a special training session to explain to Beijing-based foreign NGOs how to correctly submit their 2017 annual reports. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the State Forestry Administration took part in the training, as did 78 individuals from foreign NGOs with offices in Beijing.

February Foreign NGO Data Now Available—with a Few Changes to Our Categorization Scheme

on March 5, 2018

We’ve updated our monthly tallies of foreign NGO temporary activities and representative offices as well as our graphics showing which Chinese government entities are serving as Professional Supervisory Units (and which are not). As we do periodically, we recently went back through our data to ensure consistency in labeling and categorizing of fields of work, particularly with a view to certain Chinese keywords found in the Ministry of Public Security Website’s database to describe foreign NGOs’ work in China.

Geoffrey Sant

on March 5, 2018

Geoffrey Sant is a Partner in the Trial Department of Dorsey & Whitney LLP. He represents some of the world’s largest banks, investment companies, and businesses in both litigation and transactional matters. Sant also teaches at Fordham Law School and has taught at the China University of Political Science and Law (in Beijing). His legal writings have been cited at the U.S. Supreme Court, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and the New York Court of Appeals, as well as numerous other trial and appellate courts.

Sant is a Director of the Chinese Business Lawyers Association, and is the President of the Board of Directors of the New York Chinese Cultural Center, a 44-year-old nonprofit. He is a native speaker of English, and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish.

Paul Burke

on March 5, 2018

Paul Burke is North Asia Regional Director of the U.S. Soybean Export Council. He has a 30-year career promoting U.S. agriculture exports, serving in both the public and private sectors. He has promoted U.S. soybean exports since 2003. A graduate of Michigan State University he also studied Mandarin at Taiwan Normal University.