China Archive

In his presentation at the June 1-3 annual Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore, Defense Secretary Robert Gates appeared much more sanguine about the possibilities of establishing a constructive Sino-American military relationship than his own Defense Department. A few days earlier, DOD had released the latest version of its annual publication, “Military Power of the People’s Republic of China 2007” (pdf file). The report’s content is replete with warnings about China’s growing military capabilities, something Gates downplayed at Singapore. As directed by Congress, the report focused on the potential threat posed by China to Taiwan. Its authors warn that China continues to […]

State-sponsored censorship of the Internet has increased significantly in recent years, according to a study of 41 countries conducted during 2006 and 2007 by the OpenNet Initiative (ONI), a consortium of researchers from four major universities, including Harvard and Oxford. “The conclusions from this first year of global testing highlight that Internet filtering is growing in scope, scale and sophistication worldwide,” an ONI summary of its work states. “At least twenty-five of the forty-one countries ONI tested are engaged in some form of technical Internet filtering.”That’s up from just five states conducting systematic filtering five years ago, John Palfrey, executive […]

HONG KONG — As China grapples with the problem of producing enough electricity to meet the needs of its staggering economic growth, a pollution crisis is beginning to plume over Hong Kong. Power generation in China’s southern province of Guangdong has failed to keep pace with rapid economic development — forcing it to turn to Hong Kong for electricity. As a result, China Light and Power (CLP), Asia’s largest private power utility and the biggest polluter in Hong Kong, is attracting local political criticism for selling an increasing amount of excess electricity to mainland China for profit. In 2006, electricity […]