Bush promised to treat China like a "strategic competitor." However, despite the Department of Defense's continuing concerns about China's military buildup, the White House has backpedaled, leaving its China policy exactly the opposite of what Bush had promised. Nowhere is his retreat more obvious than on human rights, an issue Bush claims is the centerpiece of his presidency.
Robert Kagan and Robert Cooper discuss whether the world is reverting to a struggle between great powers or if it is embracing the democratising spirit of 1989.
Beijing's leadership, for all its problems, may be less hard-line than China's youth, the country's future. If China ever were to become a truly free political system, it might actually become more, not less, aggressive, as a result of simmering youth nationalism.
Many believe that when Chinese and Russian leaders stopped believing in communism they became pragmatists. But Chinese and Russian rulers do have a set of beliefs that guide their domestic and foreign policies. They believe in the virtues of strong central government and disdain the weaknesses of the democratic system. Chinese and Russian leaders are not just autocrats. They believe in autocracy.
African activists are resisting China’s growing presence in Africa, citing China’s support for autocrats like Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and importation of Chinese labor as primary concerns. Western concerns about Chinese influence in Africa have nevertheless intensified.
Senior Associate Minxin Pei presents an unique analysis of the evolution of the governing structure in China, and the strategy that the CCP has adopted to maintain legitamcy over the past decade.
Whether China will undertake political reform, which is broadly defined here as institutional changes that rationalize bureaucracy, strengthen the rule of law, expand political participation, and protect human rights, has been one of the most important issues facing policy- makers in China and the West ever since China began its economic reform in 1979.
The resounding victory of Taiwan’s opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), in last Saturday’s presidential election has raised hopes for a new era of stability across the Taiwan Strait.
China can go for great stretches these days looking like the model of a postmodern, 21st-century power. But occasionally the mask slips, and the other side of China is revealed. The question for observers of Chinese foreign policy is whether the regime's behavior at home has any relevance to the way it conducts itself in the world.
Tibetans' violent rebellion against China has been simmering for a long time.