China News

How would you react if the government put facial recognition cameras everywhere and kept tabs on your every move—right down to how many squares of toilet paper you are using? It’s happening in China, as the communist government there clamps down on freedom and ramps up its economic and territorial ambitions in its quest to…

China launched its Queqiao communications satellite on May 21, but unlike other communications satellites, this one isn’t going into an orbit around the Earth. Instead, it’s on its way to L-2, one of the five Lagrange points, where the Earth’s and the sun’s gravitational pulls cancel each other out. China is deploying this satellite to…

“You’re looking at a country which is the most radical actor on the global stage since the French Revolution.” China is plowing forward with an agenda of economic aggression, empirical ambitions, and a complete disregard for international law and customs. How did this happen? It turns out to be a toxic combination of long national…

Just this year, the Chinese Communist Party held an election in the Great Hall of the People where Xi Jinping was voted “president for life.” The vote was 2,958 for and six against. With this vote they proclaimed that China is now realizing its dream of national rejuvenation, and its grand strategy to restore its…

World Press Freedom Day was duly celebrated at the Broadcasting Board of Governors late last month. Yet, at Voice of America, a major part of the board, the fate of three Chinese journalists remains in limbo, more than a year after they were placed on administrative leave by Voice of America management for not following…

The Chinese government’s grip on religious institutions means that, in order for the Catholic Church to appoint bishops in China in the future, it must receive the Chinese Communist Party’s blessing. Toward that end, the Vatican is currently engaged in negotiations with the Chinese government to expand its influence over the Catholic Church there. In…

A trade war with China would inflict far more damage on the American economy than could be recouped from tariffs and other protectionist levies. That’s the problem with the Trump administration’s unilateral action, taken under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, to levy punitive tariffs on up to $50 billion of goods from…

It’s true that the U.S. and China continue to have problems with access to certain areas of the Chinese market and that intellectual property theft is a problem. It’s also true that China’s state-led capitalism diverts both its own markets and international markets. We have to find ways to address these problems, but in the…

Intellectual property theft has been a thorn in the side of U.S. companies for decades. China has long been a chief offender here, and continues to be in 2018. Just last month, a U.S. court in Wisconsin convicted the Chinese company Sinovel Wind Group Co. of stealing trade secrets from AMSC, a U.S.-based company. Sinovel…

As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) 19th Party Congress came to a close last month, new members of Chinese leadership emerged on the national stage. This leadership exists in the form of the CCP Central Committee’s Politburo, and in particular, a new Politburo Standing Committee. The seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, which includes President Xi Jinping…

President Donald Trump’s visit to Asia has now taken him to the People’s Republic of China, where Chinese leader Xi Jinping staged an elaborate welcome, complete with a personally guided private visit to the famous Forbidden City. Observers have expected that two of the main concerns to be discussed by Trump and Xi would be…

The Trump administration’s investigation of steel imports as a possible national security concern is the latest in a line of aggressive actions designed to boost the economy. The target of the so-called Section 232 probe is, in large part, imports into the U.S. from China. In recent testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, the…

Tibet, located in far western China, has long been a distinct ethnic and cultural enclave. It has also frequently come under persecution from the Chinese government in Beijing. That persecution has only escalated in recent years. In 2016, the Chinese government began demolishing one of the world’s largest Tibetan Buddhist academies, the Larung Gar, forcing…

The U.S. has long used international broadcasting as a tool in public diplomacy. Yet the nation’s international broadcasting agency—the Broadcasting Board of Governors—has been a distinct, freestanding agency within the U.S. government since the International Broadcasting Act of 1994. The reason often given for this independence is a fear of political influence from either the…

When we discuss international trade and balance of payments, there are two types of accounts. There is the current account, which includes goods and services imported and exported and receives the most political attention. In 2016, the American people imported $479 billion worth of goods and services from Chinese producers, and we sold $170 billion…

In the past 48 hours, the temperature in the South China Sea has risen significantly. The first development came with reports that China had placed air defenses and other weapons on the artificial islands it has built in the area of the Spratly Islands. Far more worrisome is China’s decision to seize an unmanned underwater…