China celebrates the 60th anniversary of its founding today. The massive military parade, propaganda films and genuine outpouring of pride by the Chinese people are befitting China’s growing clout and influence. I can not forget sitting up at midnight on July 1, 1997 when Hong Kong was handed over to China and a smaller parade [...]

38 years ago this week, President Nixon stunned the world when he announced that he would visit Communist China. Today, President Obama was supposed to meet President Hu Jintao in Italy, but that meeting was canceled at the last moment – but no one is worried about the consequences of a missed summit on Sino-US [...]

Like Senator McCain, Senator Obama has assembled a team of experienced and mainstream advisors who advise him on foreign policy. His balanced policy statements on China and Asia reflect their combined expertice, charting a course for US-China relations that is unlikely to deviate from its current course. Obama likely benefits from his running mate’s experience [...]

China has not been a major foreign policy talking point for either candidate in during the campaigns. On the one hand, this is disappointing, because the US relationship is complex, dynamic and critical. Both candidates recognize that China is “rising,” and it will be vital for the next President to engage China effectively, shaping China’s [...]

As a student in China in 1992, there was no internet access, no international cable TV (after 1989, CNN was only available in five-star hotel rooms) and imported newspapers were days old and cost almost ten dollars. Friends at the U.S. consulate provided video cassettes of the presidential debates a few days after they occurred [...]

Chinese authorities promised to relax internet controls as one of the conditions negotiated with the International Olympic Committee. However, over time, that commitment has been slowly eroded as the Olympics got closer. Chinese authorities later stated that internet access for the foreign press and within the Olympic Village would be unfiltered, implying that their commitment [...]

The director for security for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee announced today that protests would be allowed in specially designated areas in several parks in Beijing during the Olympics. According to BOCOG: “During the Olympics, in order to ensure a smooth traffic, nice environment and good social order, we would like to ask protestors to [...]

Navy Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander of U.S. Pacific Command said yesterday that he and his Chinese counterpart had agreed to conduct two bilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster response exercises. According to the Department of Defense: Keating said he and Chinese Lt. Gen. Zhang Qinsheng agreed over dinner last night “to begin active consideration” of [...]

Last week, I was the guest on a Chinese language TV show produced by Voice of America and broadcast live in China. Chinese callers are given a toll free number in China they can call to pose questions. The topic of discussion was “non-traditional security threats to the Olympics,” but as usual with this call-in [...]

What do the Chinese do when the dollar drops and the RMB rises? shopping! Air China announced today that it will purchase 45 planes from Boeing with a book value of $6.3 billion. The RMB has risen 6.65 percent against the dollar so far this year, and about 20 percent since 2005. Dragging their feet [...]

With the Olympics 24 days away, Chinese officials proposed changing the name that the island of Taiwan has used for previous Olympics.  The English, “Chinese Taipei” would remain unchanged, but the Chinese would change from 中華台北(zhonghua taibei) to 中國台北 (zhongguo taibei).  This new Chinese construct can be translated directly as “China, Taipei” implying that Taiwan [...]

A portion of a taped interview I conducted aired on the CBS Early Show Thursday morning explaining my view of the Chinese government’s priorities in dealing with the unrest in Tibet – “Obviously, the main concern of the government is maintaining internal stability and control, even if that means, perhaps, what we might call ‘tarnishing’ [...]

This Saturday, I had the pleasure to observe the presidential elections in Taiwan. The country’s fourth direct presidential election, it was a historic moment seeing the Kuomingtang (KMT) return to power in a landslide victory after eight years in opposition to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The party of Chiang Kai-shek, the KMT has evolved [...]