American policymakers would do well to keep a close eye on the latest developments in the South China Sea involving China and the Philippines, a formal U.S. security treaty ally. It could have major implications for the U.S. Since early April, Chinese and Philippine government ships have been confronting each other off Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. The shoal, 124 nautical miles from the main Philippines archipelago, is distinct from the dispute over the Spratlys several hundred miles to the south. The current confrontation first arose when the …
The Chinese leadership situation just became even more convoluted, as the official responsible for internal security, Zhou Yongkang, has been forced to relinquish his responsibilities. While it is impossible to be sure, one possibility is that a formal removal from office may be in the offing. Zhou, responsible for China’s courts, police, and espionage and internal security apparatus, has been linked to fallen leader Bo Xilai. Bo’s own fall was apparently precipitated when his police chief, Wang Lijun, appeared at the U.S. consulate in Chengdu, reportedly with information about Bo’s …
The Chinese minister of defense, General Liang Guanglie, is currently visiting the United States, and as usual, he is getting the red carpet rolled out for him. He is meeting Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and visiting a number of U.S. military installations, including Southern Command and Fort Benning. General Liang has already made clear that Secretary Panetta is welcome to visit China in the second half of this year. On these visits, the Chinese typically get to see American forces and equipment, although usually little different from what is …
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (a bureaucratic second-line player in the Chinese system) has now promised to treat any request by Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng to leave China just like any other citizen, even as the U.S. State Department promises that there are fellowships waiting for him in the U.S. This follows the dramatic flight by Chen to the U.S. embassy after two years of house arrest and periodic beatings, only to then walk out of the U.S. compound. Complicating this situation is the revelation that U.S. authorities apparently …
This week, the Chinese and Russian militaries began the first joint naval exercises the two sides have ever conducted. The exercise, occurring near Qingdao on the Yellow Sea, will involve 16 Chinese surface combatants and two submarines, including five missile destroyers, five missile frigates, and four missile boats, as well as a resupply ship and one of China’s new hospital ships. These are most likely drawn from the Chinese Northern Fleet, which is headquartered in Qingdao. The Russian contingent is comprised of four surface combatants, including the Slava-class cruiser Varyag …
As China prepares for the final plenum of the 17th Party Congress, it has announced that the new defense budget would amount to 670 billion RMB (approximately $106 billion), which equates to a 11.2 percent increase. This is in sharp contrast to the United States, which, despite a so-called “pivot to Asia,” is busily reducing its defense budget. The increase in China’s defense spending, atop last year’s 12.7 percent increase, highlights that China’s defense spending is now larger than that of all other Asian nations combined—a sobering statistic when one …
As the situation in Syria continues to deteriorate, the regime of Bashar al-Assad has found two steadfast allies: Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). While Russian interest in Syria may be rooted in the longstanding ties between Moscow and Damascus (and the substantial amount of arms that Syria has purchased over the years from Russian arms manufacturers), China’s interest is less clear. Syrian armories are not filled with Chinese weapons. Syria–PRC trade is only about $2.2 billion and mostly involves Chinese exports to Syria; Syria is not a …
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States was extremely short on substance. It was really just a public relations exercise for both sides aimed at audiences back home. And as for building rapport between leaders, by nature, the visit was bound to come up short. President Obama and Vice President Biden on the one hand and Vice President Xi on the other come from vastly different political cultures. Literally, they do not even speak the same language. In general, the press focus on Xi’s biography was grossly …
According to the recent news, the United States will not be signing the European Union Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. This is good news, but it ignores other Administration statements that indicate that the Administration is ignoring congressional calls for avoiding measures that would limit U.S. space operations. According to Ellen Tauscher, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, “it’s been clear from the very beginning that we’re not going along with the code of conduct.” It was not clear in February 2011, when 37 Republican …
With the election of Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan has once again demonstrated the maturity of its political processes. The successful conduct of Taiwan’s democratic elections reminds us that Taiwan is part of the growing group of states capable of undertaking peaceful elections as the means of effecting political transition and change. With his election, it is to be expected that President Ma will continue the various policies begun in his first administration, including deepening economic ties with the mainland through the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement mechanism. At the same time, it …
