ChinaFile Recommends
08.14.17What a Standoff on a Small Himalayan Plateau Says about the Rivalry between the Two Most Populous Nations
Los Angeles Times
In a tense standoff between nuclear-armed nations that threatens to destabilize Asia, both sides are digging in, with one warning of unspecified “countermeasures” and the other saying it won’t be bullied.
Conversation
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Should China Support the U.S. in a War with North Korea?
On August 9, U.S. President Donald Trump warned North Korea that if it does not stop threatening the United States, it will be “met with fire and fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.” Just hours later, the...
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08.10.17China Warns U.S. Over Aluminum Dispute
CNN
China has told the Trump administration to tread carefully in a spat over aluminum exports if it wants to avoid damaging the relationship between the world’s two largest economies. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce on Thursday disputed U.S...
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08.10.17U.S. Warship Sails Close to China-Held Island in Disputed Sea
ABC
A U.S. warship sailed close to a Chinese man-made island in the disputed the South China Sea in an operation that challenged China’s vast territorial claims in busy international waters, a U.S. Navy official said Thursday.
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08.10.17Gaps in Records Cloak China’s North Korean ‘Slave Laborers’ in Mystery
South China Morning Post
It is an open secret that a significant number of North Korean laborers work in China and Russia in border cities, especially in Siberia. But owing to minimal record-keeping, little is known about the workers’ presence or activities
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08.10.17Spotlight: Washington, Pyongyang Step up War Rhetoric, Further Escalate Tensions over Korea Nuclear Issue
Xinhua
In the latest of the increasingly intense war of words, Pyongyang said it would prepare a plan by mid-August to strike the U.S. territory of Guam with intermediate missiles, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Thursday.
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08.09.17Why Trump’s North Korea Threat Is the Last Thing China Needs
CNN
US President Donald Trump’s threats of “fire and fury” against North Korea couldn’t come at a worse time for China.
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08.08.17Diplomacy to Defuse India, China Border Crisis Slams into a Wall: Sources
Reuters
India’s diplomatic efforts to end a seven-week military standoff with China have hit a roadblock, people briefed on the talks said, prompting Chinese state-run media to trumpet rhetoric of “unavoidable countermeasures” on the unmarked border.
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08.07.17Doubts over New ‘Compromise’ UN Sanctions on North Korea as China Emerges Unscathed
South China Morning Post
Beijing scored diplomatic points with its endorsement of tougher United Nations sanctions against North Korea, avoiding a showdown with Washington over Pyongyang’s repeated nuclear provocations.
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08.07.17China May Conduct ‘Small-Scale Military Operation’ to Remove Indian Troops from Bhutan Border Region
Independent
China could conduct a “small-scale military operation” to expel Indian troops from a contested region in the Himalayas, according to an article published a Chinese state-controlled newspaper.
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08.03.17China ramps up rhetoric in border row with India ahead of key meetings
Beijing has doubled down on its tough rhetoric in its Himalayan border row, with official and military mouthpieces insisting China will not back down on territorial sovereignty.
ChinaFile Recommends
08.02.17China’s Stunning Debut on the International Scene
This month, Chinese naval vessels departed the port of Zhanjiang for the East African country of Djibouti, the site of China’s first overseas military base, which is set to begin operations later this year. An editorial in the state-run Global Times...
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08.01.17China's Show of Military Muscle Gives Neighbors Plenty to Think about, Analysts Say
South China Morning Post
China’s military parade on Sunday and the comments made by President Xi Jinping at the event will undoubtedly have caught the attention of its neighbors, especially those with which it has territorial disputes, analysts said.
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07.31.17China Hits Back at Trump Criticism over North Korea
Reuters
China hit back on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted he was “very disappointed” in China following Pyongyang's latest missile test, saying the problem did not arise in China and that all sides need to work for a solution.
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07.31.17Chinese Blogger Sorry after Essay Slamming Beijingers’ ‘Fake’ Lives Goes Viral and Is Censored
South China Morning Post
Widely-read blog criticized by state media after it lists complaints about soaring property prices, crowded subways and lack of human warmth in the capital
ChinaFile Recommends
07.27.17Amid NSA Ajit Doval’s Visit, Anti-War Sentiments Take Root in China
Hindu
National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval has commenced his visit to China, outside the glare of media, amid public calls by Chinese authorities seeking unilateral withdrawal of Indian troops engaged in a tense standoff with Chinese forces, from...
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07.27.17Britain and Australia Urge China to Do More on North Korea Threat
Reuters
Earlier this month North Korea, which has warned Australia could be the target of a strike, said it had conducted its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which experts say could reach Alaska.
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07.26.17China Agency Targets High-Tech Weapons Development
Financial Times
China has launched a military agency to develop state of the art weapons, the latest step in the country’s ambitions to transform its army into a modern fighting force. The Scientific Research Steering Committee was set up earlier this year but its...
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07.26.17Satellite Photos Reveal Underground Construction at Chinese Military Base
CNN
New satellite imagery of China's first overseas military base reveal it to be bigger and more secure than previously thought.
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07.25.17As India and China Face Off in the Mountains, a New Confrontation Is Growing in the Ocean
CNBC
India-China ties, already weighed down by a Himalayan border dispute, are set for further pressure amid territorial concerns in the Indian Ocean. Beijing has been expanding its naval presence there, triggering worry from New Delhi.
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07.25.17Why is China Reinforcing its Border With North Korea?
CNN
China is further fortifying its border with North Korea, new reports show, amid continued tensions on the peninsula and concerns over potential US military action against Pyongyang.
China in the World Podcast
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An ‘Alternative Future’ for the Korean Peninsula
from Carnegie China
Despite widespread international condemnation of North Korea’s recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test, strategic distrust and misperceptions continue to impede deeper cooperation between the United States and China on the nuclear...
Sinica Podcast
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Straight Talk on North Korea and China
from Sinica Podcast
Lyle Goldstein, an associate professor and strategic researcher at the U.S. Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute, is an expert on Chinese and Russian security strategies. He is also an insightful commentator on what is going on...
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07.24.17China Warns India Not to Harbor Illusions in Border Stand-Off
Reuters
China’s defense ministry on Monday warned India not to harbor any illusions about the Chinese military’s ability to defend its territory, amid a festering border dispute.
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07.24.17Xi Jinping Picks War Games over Military Parade for Chinese Army’s 90th Birthday Bash
South China Morning Post
China’s biggest annual war games, at Asia’s largest military training base, will be attended by President Xi Jinping on August 1 to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
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07.24.17Chinese Jets Intercept US Surveillance Plane: US Officials
Reuters
Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted a U.S. Navy surveillance plane over the East China Sea at the weekend, with one jet coming within about 300 feet (91 meters) of the American aircraft, U.S. officials said on Monday.
Viewpoint
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Why Korean Reunification is in China’s Strategic National Interest
North Korea’s July 4 launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile has highlighted once again both the extent to which Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program and aggressive behavior is destabilizing the Asia Pacific region and the relative impotence...
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07.20.17India Ready for Talks with China on Border Standoff
Washington Post
India said Thursday it is ready to hold talks with China if both sides pull back their forces to end a standoff along a disputed territory high in the Himalayan mountains. Tensions flared last month in the southernmost part of Tibet in an area also...
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07.19.17China Is Being ‘Unusually Aggressive’ in Border Row
South China Morning Post
A top Indian diplomat said China is being unusually aggressive in a month-old border dispute with India that shows no sign of easing, media reports said yesterday.
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07.18.17China Ready For ‘War’ With India, Holds Live-Fire Drills Near Border
Newsweek
The ruling Communist Party of China has issued a stern warning to neighboring India, with which it is engaged in a bitter border dispute that has recently seen Chinese live-fire drills and media speculation of extensive Indian military casualties...
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07.13.17China Dispatches Troops to Djibouti to Set up Its First Overseas Base
NPR
China dispatched troops to set up its first military base overseas on Tuesday. After a ceremony in the southern port city of Zhanjiang, military personnel embarked on a voyage to the East African country of Djibouti to establish an outpost “...
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07.13.17China Is Trading More with North Korea but Buying Much Less Coal
CNN
A Chinese government official said Thursday that China-North Korea trade was worth $2.6 billion in the first half of 2017, up about 10% over the same period last year.
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07.12.17Taiwan Casts Nervous Eye as Mainland Chinese Aircraft Carrier Liaoning Sails Near
South China Morning Post
Taiwan’s military is closely watching as a convoy accompanying mainland China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, sailed into the Taiwan Strait after leaving Hong Kong where it took part in the handover celebrations.
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07.12.17China Sends Troops to Djibouti, Establishes First Overseas Military Base
CNN
China has dispatched troops to Djibouti in advance of formally establishing the country's first overseas military base.
ChinaFile Recommends
07.11.17India, China Can Handle Border Differences, Senior Indian Official Says
Reuters
India and China can manage the differences that are likely to arise from time to time over their contested border, India’s Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said on Tuesday, commenting on recent tension sparked by Chinese road-building.
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07.11.17US, India and Japan Begin Naval Exercises, as China Looks On
CNN
A rising Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean has prompted the largest naval exercise the region has seen in more than two decades. The United States, Japan and India have deployed front-line warships, submarines, and aircraft as part of the tri-...
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07.11.17China Envoy Says North Korea Trade Growth Picture ‘Distorted’
CNBC
China’s ambassador to the United States has said reports of trade growth between his country and North Korea, in spite of international efforts to press Pyongyang to give up its nuclear and missile programs, give “a distorted picture.”
Books
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Destined for War
China and the United States are headed toward a war neither wants. The reason is Thucydides’s Trap, a deadly pattern of structural stress that results when a rising power challenges a ruling one. This phenomenon is as old as history itself. About the Peloponnesian War that devastated ancient Greece, the historian Thucydides explained: “It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable.” Over the past 500 years, these conditions have occurred 16 times. War broke out in 12 of them. Today, as an unstoppable China approaches an immovable America and both Xi Jinping and Donald Trump promise to make their countries “great again,” the 17th case looks grim. Unless China is willing to scale back its ambitions or Washington can accept becoming number two in the Pacific, a trade conflict, cyberattack, or accident at sea could soon escalate into all-out war.In Destined for War, the eminent Harvard scholar Graham Allison explains why Thucydides’s Trap is the best lens for understanding U.S.-China relations in the 21st century. Through uncanny historical parallels and war scenarios, he shows how close we are to the unthinkable. Yet, stressing that war is not inevitable, Allison also reveals how clashing powers have kept the peace in the past—and what painful steps the United States and China must take to avoid disaster today. —Houghton Mifflin Harcourt{chop}
ChinaFile Recommends
07.10.17Haley Says China May Face Trade Sanctions If It Continues To “Hold Hands” with N. Korea
CBS News
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the U.S. is going to “push hard” against China amid threats from North Korea, and that China needs to do more when it comes to the country that just days ago test-launched an intercontinental...
ChinaFile Recommends
07.10.17Take a Tour of China’s First Aircraft Carrier, a Secondhand Soviet-Era Ship Now in Hong Kong
Quartz
China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was open to the public for the first time this past weekend. The event took place in Hong Kong as part of the 20th anniversary marking the city’s handover to Chinese rule.
Viewpoint
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Why Won’t China Help With North Korea? Remember 1956
President Donald J. Trump’s short-lived honeymoon with Chinese Communist Party Secretary Xi Jinping is over. On June 29, the U.S. imposed sanctions on a Chinese bank, a Chinese shipping company, and two Chinese nationals, all accused of helping...
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07.09.17War Games Could Inflame What They Aim to Prevent: Conflict with China
Guardian
Australia is sleepwalking along a path of military expansion and confrontation in line with U.S. security priorities, instead of setting our own security policies
ChinaFile Recommends
07.06.17How China Misread Donald Trump
Politico
Trump’s view of China is quickly turning sour. The reason for his dwindling patience is Beijing’s failure to rein in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s nuclear program.
ChinaFile Recommends
07.05.17US, China Divided over How to Deal with New North Korean ICBM Threat
CNN
A paradigm-changing North Korean missile test has left the United States and China split over how to deal with the aggressive rogue state.
ChinaFile Recommends
07.04.17Chinese Media Says India Needs to Be Taught a 'Bitter Lesson' over Its Border Dispute
Time
An editorial that ran in China's Global Times Tuesday has ramped up the rhetoric in an ongoing military dispute along a portion of the Sino-Indian border.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.30.17Pakistan Pivots to China Amid Fresh Concerns over US Ties with India
Washington Post
The words from Pakistan’s top foreign policy adviser could not have been clearer. At a news conference welcoming China’s foreign minister to the Pakistani capital this week, Sartaj Aziz declared, “Pakistan’s relations with China are the cornerstone...
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06.30.17US-China Honeymoon Over: Washington Sanctions Chinese Bank and Sells Arms to Taiwan
Guardian
Relations between the world’s two largest economies look to be entering a new phase of turbulence after the US punctured Chinese celebrations of the anniversary of Hong Kong’s return by unveiling sanctions against a Chinese bank linked to North...
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06.28.17Indian Bunker in Sikkim Removed by China: Sources
China has removed an old bunker of the Indian Army located at the tri-junction of India, China and Bhutan in Sikkim after the Indian side refused to accede to its request.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.27.17China and India Border Dispute Raises Fears of New Asian War
Reuters
China has accused Indian border guards of crossing into its territory from the state of Sikkim on India's northeastern border with Tibet, the Chinese foreign and defence ministries have said, complicating an already difficult relationship.
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06.23.17Unless China Changes Tack, India Won’t Be the Only Country Opposing One Belt, One Road
Quartz
India said about OBOR that “no country can accept a project that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
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06.22.17Former State Department Security Officer Accused of Spying for China
New York Times
F.B.I. agents found top-secret documents on a device he brought back from Shanghai.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.21.17U.S., China Meet on North Korea after Trump Points to Failed Chinese Effort
Reuters
Top diplomats and defense chiefs from the United States and China began a day of talks in Washington on Wednesday looking for ways to press North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programs.
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06.21.17China Cancels Military Meeting With Vietnam Over Territorial Dispute
New York Times
Analysts, citing government sources, said that the Chinese delegation had unexpectedly cut short a trip to Vietnam after tempers flared during a closed-door discussion on disputed territories in the South China Sea.
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06.20.17What Are the Odds of a U.S.-China War?
Wall Street Journal
Two fiery nationalists— Xi Jinping and Donald Trump—now occupy the seats of power in Beijing and Washington. In their mission to make their countries great again, one pursues the “China Dream,” one “America First.” Both see the other as the chief...
China in the World Podcast
06.19.17![](https://www.chinafile.com/sites/default/files/styles/system/public/assets/images/article/system/missle_submarine-sm.jpg?itok=UhDmbQXl)
Are China’s New Naval Capabilities a Game Changer?
from Carnegie China
As the post-World War II order adjusts to a rising China, America’s predominance in the Asia-Pacific faces new challenges. Over the past five years, China has substantially built up its navy and demonstrated more assertive behavior toward its...
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06.19.17China May Soon Establish Naval Base in U.S. Ally Pakistan
NBC News
Nuclear-armed Pakistan is a key ally of the United States — but the relationship is far from untroubled. And one of Washington's main geopolitical rivals appears ready to step in.
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06.18.17‘Islamic State Killings: China’s Censored Social Media Is in Uproar, so What’s Beijing Thinking?
South China Morning Post
The deaths of two Chinese prompt widespread calls for retribution. Beijing, seeking favour in the region with its Belt and Road Initiative, remains curiously silent.
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06.15.17Are China and the United States Headed for War?
New Yorker
Professors, pundits, and journalists weigh in on a heated topic.
ChinaFile Recommends
06.13.17China Developing Hypersonic Missiles For Jet Fighters
Sky News
If the ramjet engine is successfully miniaturised it will allow air-to-air missiles to strike targets at more than 4,000mph.
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06.12.17China Developing World's Fastest Amphibious Fighting Vehicle
The North China Institute of Vehicle Research has built the armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) that can attain a top speed of 50 kilometres per hour on calm waters.