China, Space Weapons, and U.S. Security

By Bruce W. MacDonald on September 1, 2008

China’s successful test of an anti-satellite weapon in 2007, followed by the US destruction earlier this year of an out-of-control American satellite, demonstrated that space may soon no longer remain a sanctuary from military conflict. As the United States, China, and others increasingly benefit from the information that military and intelligence satellites provide, the temptation to attack these satellites provides troubling potential for instability and conflict in space that could dramatically affect U.S. military capabilities on earth. In this report, the author illuminates the strategic landscape of this new military space competition and highlights the dangers and opportunities the United States confronts in the space arena.

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He Jianan
Topics: 
Military
Science
Technology
Keywords: 
Security
Military Technology
Organization: 
Council on Foreign Relations

Energy Interests and Alliances: China, America and Africa

By Angelica Austin, Danila Bochkarev, and Willem van der Geest on August 24, 2008

According to conventional wisdom, the United States and China are locked in a high-stakes competition for energy resources around the world, particularly in Africa. Against the backdrop of highly volatile oil prices, mounting concerns about global warming, and Europe’s dependence on Russian energy sources, the mere fact that both the United States and China have an intense interest in Africa leads to the conclusion that they are on a collision course there. This EWI policy paper argues that energy security can become a rallying point in an otherwise difficult relationship. Despite the visible tensions over China’s involvement in Sudan, China and the United States have far more energy interests in common in Africa than generally assumed. Already, they are cooperating on a number of initiatives, and there is no reason that their energy policies have to be at odds with each other. This is no zero-sum game.

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Topics: 
Business
Economy
Energy
Politics
Keywords: 
China-Africa Relations
Africa
U.S.-China Relations
International Relations
Energy
Oil
Global Economy
Trade
Organization: 
EastWest Institute

The Passions of Joseph Needham

By Jonathan D. Spence on August 14, 2008

It is now a little over four hundred years since a scattering of Westerners first began to try to learn the Chinese language. Across that long span, the number of scholars studying Chinese has grown, but their responses to the challenges of Chinese script have been generally consistent. Most have just slogged away, with reasonable success, and treated the task as an intellectual challenge on a par with many others. But at pretty much any period, one can trace two other groupings whose views are far more extreme.

China: Humiliation & the Olympics

By Orville Schell on August 14, 2008

The Incident

On a snowy winter day in 1991, Lu Gang, a slightly built Chinese scholar who had recently received his Ph.D. in plasma physics, walked into a seminar room at the University of Iowa’s Van Allen Hall, raised a snub-nose .38-caliber Taurus pistol, and killed Professor Christoph Goertz, his thesis adviser; Robert A. Smith, a member of his dissertation committee; and Shan Linhua, a fellow Chinese graduate student and his rival.

Taiwan: Recent Developments and U.S. Policy Choices

By Kerry Dumbaugh on August 5, 2008

In a large turnout on March 22, 2008, voters in Taiwan elected as president Mr. Ma Ying-jeou of the Nationalist (KMT) Party. Mr. Ma out-polled rival candidate Frank Hsieh, of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), by a 2.2 million vote margin of 58% to 42%. Coming on the heels of the KMT’s sweeping victory in January’s legislative elections, the result appears to be a further repudiation of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian’s eight-year record of governance. President-elect Ma, who began his tenure on May 20, 2008, has promised to improve Taiwan’s economic performance, to improve Taiwan’s damaged relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and to address any annoyances in Taiwan-U.S. relations arising from the Chen Administration. Under the new KMT government, then, the United States will be faced with challenges familiar from past years, including decisions on new arms sales; how to accommodate requests for visits to the United States by Ma and other senior Taiwan officials; the level of U.S. relations with the Ma government; whether to pursue closer economic ties; and what role, if any, Washington should play in cross-strait relations.

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Peony Lui
Topics: 
Politics
Keywords: 
Taiwan
Democratization
Ma Ying-jeou
U.S.-Taiwan Relations
Organization: 
Congressional Research Service