China & Taiwan

Xi Jinping’s Second Coronation—and What It (May) Mean for China and the Rest of Us

In the chill of early March, nearly 5,000 of China’s most important people gathered in Beijing for what are called the two meetings: the National People’s Congress (NPC), which is in theory the nation’s highest legislative body, and the...

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The Taiwan Travel Act: Only as Important as Trump Makes It

A seemingly innocuous bill—one that allows senior U.S. officials to travel to Taiwan and vice versa—was passed by unanimous consent by the U.S. Senate and House signed into law by President Donald Trump. This rare show of American bipartisanship...

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A New Chinese Emperor Rises

Over a very long history, governance has been China’s greatest achievement—and its greatest failure. Every Chinese, whether a senior official in Beijing or a farmer in a remote village, will tell you with certainty that China has the oldest...

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Washington Must Rethink Policy on North Korea

Nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them are central to Pyongyang’s deterrence strategy, the principal aim of which is to forestall an attack on the North Korean homeland by the United States. It should come as no surprise...

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A Weapon Without War: China’s United Front Strategy

Less headline-grabbing than China’s military advances and expanding economic reach is China’s united front activities, which have become an increasing cause for concern among countries in Asia, particularly U.S. allies. Not as benign as the name might sound, united...

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The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review: Signaling Restraint with Stipulations

The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is a thoughtful, deliberative report that captures the big strategic issues facing the United States in the area of nuclear force structure. This is surprising and welcome in my view. The previous...

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Japan’s Enduring Value to Southeast Asia

With China’s rapid rise over the past few decades, Japan is no longer the leading economic power in Asia. Even worse for Japan, China’s new economic clout has allowed it to expand its political influence across the region. But,...

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China’s New Role in the Baltic States

Since its inception in 2012, China’s “16+1” cooperation platform—an initiative aimed at intensifying Beijing’s economic and cultural ties with 16 countries in Central and Eastern Europe—has attracted great speculation about China’s motives and questions about the format’s concrete deliverables....

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Doubling Down on Asia

With the Chinese government aggressively militarizing the South China Sea and U.S. President Donald Trump scuttling the Trans-Pacific Partnership, there appears no clear answer to Beijing’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative. In fact, U.S. foreign policy thinkers are casting...

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Nuclear Weapons And Russian-North Korean Relations

Since the late 19th century Russia has been a major stakeholder in Korean affairs, at times exercising critical influence on the peninsula. The unfolding crisis over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs may significantly raise Russia’s profile on the peninsula....

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