President Xi's Command Model Economy

The command economy model is a component of the Communist political system contrasting to that of a free market economy in a capitalist political system. In a command economy model, there is always a central authority that decides the level of outp...

29 article ordinance for more effective governance of Tibet

The 29 Article Ordinance was necessitated by the Sino-Nepalese war of 1788 in the event of an attack on the border areas of Tibet by the Gurkhas. In July 1791, a similar second invasion occurred. However, with the support of the Tibetan people, the Q...

Deflation in China

In July 2023 consumer prices in China declined by 0.3% compared to figures recorded in the previous year signaling deflation. While deflation seems intuitively good given that it leads to citizens having increased purchasing power, it still tends to ...

President Xi's PLA Purge

Recently President Xi Jinping has carried out a plausible purge of senior officials in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) transferring and suspending many senior officers. This alleged purge reflects Xi’s determination to consolidate his power over t...

The Case for Cooperation

The beauty about Geopolitics is that it keeps changing on a daily basis. What in 1949 were two impoverished countries are in 2023, two civilizational powers turned modern states. India and China have a long history of interaction between the two soci...

Indian Armed Forces Chiefs in Taiwan

Started in 2017 as a forum to discuss Security in the Indo-Pacific, the Republic of China / Taiwan has been proactive in gathering the support of the international community through the Ketagalan Security Forum.   At the recently held edition of the ...

China's Great Firewall

George Orwell, in his magnum opus 1984, rightfully puts it: "Those who control the present control the past, and those who control the past control the future." Thus, the PRC under the CCP has realised the correlation between the stability of politic...

Genghis Khan - Nightmare for the Chinese

Under the shadow of the growing prosperity of the Song Dynasty in the early 13th century, a man was on his way to creating the largest land-based empire in the history of humankind. A man whose brutal conquest reduced the global population by 40 mill...

China's New Foreign Relations Law

The new Law on Foreign Relations was adopted by China's National People's Congress on 1st July. This new law is framed to "safeguard China's sovereignty, national security and development interests". This is mainly expounded in the Article 6 of the n...

Southern Provinces of China

Economy and Culture The southern provinces of China have attracted a lot of debate and attention in recent years. Issues concerning gender inequality, corruption, poverty, and lack of infrastructure have dominated mainstream media and its popular rep...

Military aid to Taiwan

Presidential Drawdown Authority America has approved a $345 million military sale to Taiwan. This is significant because this is allocated from the Presidential Drawdown Authority. The US Congress had passed $1 billion PDA to President Biden in the c...

Shimla Convention 1913-1914

The Simla convention was a conference that would go on to determine two major topics. Firstly, the conference covered the border lines between inner and outer Tibet, as well as the status of Tibet’s autonomy and sovereignty. The second point of discu...

China's Nuclear Doctrine

China’s nuclear doctrine consists of five elements: declaration, nuclear development, nuclear deployment, denuclearization, and nuclear disarmament.  In 2016, Professor Liping Xia from Tongji University in Shanghai explained in a paper how China’s nu...

The Yuan Dynasty

The Rise and Fall of the Mongol Empire in China After consolidating the spoils of the Song Dynasty, Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, unified the Mongol Empire into four khanates: the Ilkhanate in Persia, The Chagtai Khanate in Central Asia,...

The Middle-Lower Yangtze

The Middle-Lower Yangtze Plain traverses a number of Chinese provinces (including Hubei, Jiangxi, and Hunan) and cities (including Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Wuhan). The Yangtze River and its tributaries' silt deposition helped to construct th...

The Pearl River Plains

The Pearl River Plains The Pearl River, also known as the Canton River, and its tributaries, including the Bei, Dong, and Xi rivers, among others, which empty into the South China Sea, make up the Pearl River Delta Plain. The shell with a pearl-like...

Transport in China

Backbone of Chinese Economy China is the third-largest country in terms of area and the second largest country in terms of population. To cater to the needs of such a vast population, the development of the transportation sector is a prerequisite. Th...

Methane Fueled Rocket

World's First Methane Fueled Space Rocket On 12th of July, 2023 the People's Republic of China shocked the world by launching the first ever liquid oxygen, liquid methane carrier rocket into the Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO). With the launch of the fir...

Song Dynasty (960 CE - 1279 CE)

The Song Dynasty of Imperial China was the most peaceful and tranquil era of ancient Chinese history. Throughout the rule of three centuries, despite a split into two factions in 1125 CE, the era of the Song Dynasty forms the basis of Chinese civiliz...

The Eternal Neighbours

On the sidelines of an extensive engagement hosted by the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and China’s Director of the Office of the CPC Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Y...

Kissinger & his secret visits to China

Henry Kissinger visiting China secretly to talk to the Chinese leadership - seems like 1971? Even after 52 years to that story, and at the age of 100, Henry Kissinger has undertaken yet another secretive visit to Beijing to have a direct conversation...

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms: 907 AD-979 AD

A Dwindling Mandate of Heaven 五代十國 The fall of the Tang dynasty was attributed to the devolution of power to local military governors, known as Jiedushi, an individual who was once appointed by the Central Court of the Tang Empire, by the end of the ...

Taxation in China

Taxation in China The most significant source of China’s government revenue has been its massive tax collection system. This system plays a significant role in its economic and social development. China’s tax policy has evolved with time following it...

China Investing in Arable Land

A country's need for arable land or agricultural land is one of the primary factors in its economic development and meets the necessities of its citizens. China's 1.4 billion population is dependent on its 12.6% arable which yields rice, wheat, potat...

Theatre Commands of China

A nation that can create Theatre based Commands has the ability to mobilise all three forces i.e., land-based army, airforce, and navy in an integrated fashion based on the geographical factors of the region.   The rationale behind the creation of in...

Tang Dynasty 618 AD-907 AD

Also considered the golden age of Chinese history, the Tang dynasty was founded by Li Yuan who seized power during the decline of the Sui dynasty. He furthered the administration systems created by Sui rulers and stabilized the political institutions...

The World’s Longest Bullet Train Network

Symbolizing China’s Development China entered the 21st century with no high-speed railway infrastructure. A mere 23 years later it has now managed to construct the largest high-speed railway network in the world, rivaled by none.  The grassroots of t...

Sui Dynasty 581 CE - 618 CE

Unfinished Integration of China Proper 楷書 The Sui dynasty witnessed the reign of only two emperors; Wendi and his son Yangdi. However, during their brief rule of thirty-seven years, they set in motion a political, and administrative integration that...

China Myanmar Economic Corridor

A Tale of Hope and Despair A stretch of projects paving their way from Yunnan province of China, enters into the capital Mandalay, Myanmar, creating an inverted “Y” shape as the one end reaches to Kyaukpyu in the western Myanmar and another end reach...

Northern & Southern Dynasties

The tumultuous period of Jin dynasty had its last nail in the coffin when the vast empire of Jin was divided into 16 small kingdoms who were all engaged into perpetual civil wars as general political chaos became a normal occurrence.   The Southern D...

Secretary Yellen in China

American Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen is on a high-stakes visit to Beijing, weeks after her colleague, the Secretary of State Anthony Blinken concluded one. On the top of her agenda is to convince her Chinese counterparts that Washington wants ...

Summing up the SCO Summit 2023

The much awaited SCO summit 2023, hosted by India, came to a close. The virtual Summit was attended by the Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan PM Shebaz Sharif, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and leaders from other member states - Kazakhstan, K...

Chinese investments in Pakistan

On 17th June 2023, Pakistan received a $1 Billion loan from China in addition to the previous bailout received in February wherein China had lended $700 million to Pakistan to shore up its foreign reserves. Pakistan has called China its “all weather ...

PLA Rocket Forces

‘People’s Liberation Army Rocket Forces’ is the 4th branch of the People’s Liberation Army that controls China’s land-based ballistic and cruise missile arsenal for both conventional and nuclear arms. The aim of having a PLARF is to secure China’s s...

Three Years of Galwan Clash

How the Indian Army has ramped up its presence in the Valley June 15, 2023, marked three years since Indian and Chinese troops clashed in the Galwan Valley inside the eastern Ladakh sector, a contentious frontier considered as a flashpoint of the Ind...

LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN CHINA

The history of local governance in China The Qin dynasty, which triumphed at the end of the Warring States Period, was determined to keep China united. As a result, the dynasty established the first two-level hierarchical administrative structure. Th...

May Fourth Movement

The Revolution of 1911 ended an over two thousand year imperial rule in China. However, the Republic of China established by the Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang had a tough decision to make very early into its formation as the first world war broke...

The Jin Dynasty

The era of Jin dynasty was the layer upon the preceding Three Kingdom era. Sima Yan, the regent of king Cao Huan, took over the Cao Wei kingdom and declared himself as the emperor of Western Jin.  In 280 AD, Sima Yan conquered the Dong Wu kingdom and...

Beyond the Binary

Cyber Espionage is a particular area of contention between the US and China. The PLA are reported to be behind this, funding, directing, managing and collating information, particularly about commercial targets of America and its allies. Strategicall...

China's Pharmaceutical Industry

Providing ample opportunities, China being the world's second largest pharmaceutical market after the United States is undergoing a transformation to more efficiency and productivity through research and development in the high-tech Pharmaceutical In...

The Romance of Three Kingdoms

The chaotic era of the Three Kingdoms was the phase of Chinese history when the mighty Han Empire, which ruled for 442 years and shaped the culture of ancient China, was corrupted by traitors within the divine court of Han. The traitors were eunuchs ...

China-Syria Relations

Located towards the western end of the Silk Route, Syria has always been at the crossroads of civilisations that straddled the east and the west. This ancient Silk Route is now the basis for numerous Chinese projects and investments under the BRI (Be...

China's Literature

The establishment of the Republic led many thinkers in China to turn their attention to literary traditions and many other aspects of writing. During the mid ages, several political events took place and in them- the Nationalists, Communists and warl...

The China Development Bank

Many would argue that the China Development Bank has single handedly been the driving force behind many of China’s greatest infrastructure projects over the past three decades.   It is these very infrastructure projects such as the ‘Three Gorges Dam’...

Iron Control on Social Media

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) closed more than 67,000 social media accounts after a two-month-long probe under the campaign of RECTIFICATION i.e., to clean social media from malicious news. Chinese social media regulators targeted th...

Chinese Cinema

The early Chinese film industry was centred in the town of Shanghai. The 1920s was dominated by small studios and commercial films, especially in the action genre. When the leftist elements started emerging in the 1930s, the dispute between Nationali...

China-Japan Relations

The Communists in China view the invasion of Manchuria & the Mainland by the Imperial Japanese Army in the 1930s as a suffering inflicted on the Chinese people. Horrors of the Nanking Massacre of 1937 still haunt them. The fact that Japan has shied a...

Talking about Talking !

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's Beijing visit was all about "let's talk about talking". Secretary met his counterpart, Qin Gang, his former counterpart and China's top diplomat Wang Yi before calling upon the President of China, Xi Jinping. Inte...

US-China Détente ?

At the peak of the Cold War, Détente was designed to serve the purpose of reducing tensions, by increasing government to government engagement over issues where there were mutual interests for the US and USSR. The pattern leading to US Secretary of S...

The Shared Heritage of India and China

Culture is often overlooked by geopolitical hardliners and strategic analysts as a soft power component, despite its transformative potential in shaping political narratives between nations. This is particularly relevant in the case of civilizational...

China's Energy Security Policy

China, now the world's second largest economy, is concerned with energy security, a key objective for Beijing and underpinning the CCP's political legitimacy. China's energy demand exceeds that of other BRIC countries. In recent years, three-quarters...

China-Mongolia Relations

History In October 1945, under the auspices of the United Nations, Mongolia held a referendum for independence as per the terms of the Yalta Conference of 1945. As a result, Mongolia declared independence with an overwhelming majority. After China re...

CCP's unemployment problem

Disillusioned with the Party According to China’s Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate among Chinese youths aged between 16 and 24 hit a record 20.4% in April. The expansion of college education created this huge supply of graduates, but the e...

China's Hydropower Diplomacy

China has been using hydropower diplomacy, aka "water cooperation," or "water diplomacy," as a part of its economic diplomacy to increase both its hard power and its soft power. Hard power by means of using the natural resources of other countries ...

CHINA-VIETNAM RELATIONS

Relations between Vietnam and China are complex and often turbulent. Hanoi and Beijing have long made diplomatic statements touting their ideological collaborations and similar systems of government, but friendships have often been undermined by mari...

Cuba's secret ally ?

Is China secretly watching the US from Cuba ? In the island nation of Cuba roughly 160 kilometres away from Florida, China is allegedly building an electronic eavesdropping facility to surveil on US soil. Apparently, the US Central Command located ...

Chinese People Perception

Chinese people surveyed The Centre for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University conducted a poll on the outlook of international security. The objective of the poll was to reduce the information deficit on the dialogue between China...

China-South Korea Relations

The Chinese neighbourhood The relational dynamic between South Korea and China is the epitome of the contradictions that exist in global international relations, where old enemies make new acquaintances. These two nations are driven by two key factor...

Factionalism in China

Factionalism within the Chinese Communist Party Xi’s New Zhijiang Army, a.k.a. Xi Jinping Faction, has been replacing the Chinese Youth League, which earlier served as "reserve" for elite posts in the CCP as well as in other areas such as the judicia...

QUAD + G7

Significance of QUAD with G7 Japan hosts G7 2023. India was invited to the G7 2023. India recently participated in the QUAD Leaders' Summit on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, from May 19 to 21. It is symbolic and meaningful as Ind...

China's Suez to ASEAN

The Pinglu Canal China's gateway to ASEAN China has commenced the construction of the Pinglu Canal, an inland waterway spanning 134.2 kilometres, in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China connecting Henghzhou city with Qinzhou, a port ci...

27th Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs

India-China Border Talks Will the state of the border continue to define the state of the relationship ? India and China held the 27th in-person "frank and open" diplomatic talks concerning the LAC border dispute under the Working Mechanism for Cons...