Recent Reports:

The Economist: China’s Quest for Resources (March 18, 2008)

Beginning with an overview of China’s worldwide hunger for natural resources, The Economist offers a special report on how China’s growing international presence will mean big effects for Chinese back home.

CRS Report: China-U.S. Relations: Current Issues and Implications for U.S. Policy (December 21, 2007)

This updated report discusses a host of important issues pertinent to Congress affecting U.S.-China relations including military and national security concerns; economic and trade; North Korea; Taiwan; as well as China’s growing global reach. The report notes that while the relationship has been remarkably smooth since late 2001, there are signs that U.S. China policy now is subject to competing reassessments.

CRS Report: U.S.-China Counter-Terrorism Cooperation: Issues for U.S. Policy (October 10, 2007)

Congressional Research Services notes that after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Washington faced a challenge in enlisting the full support of China in counter-terrorism. This effort raised short-term policy issues about how to elicit cooperation and how to address China’s concerns about military action. Longer-term questions have concerned whether counter-terrorism has strategically transformed bilateral relations and whether China’s support has been valuable and not obtained at the expense of other U.S. interests. This concise report published for Congress analyzes U.S.-China counter-terrorism cooperation and options and implications for U.S. policy.

China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly: Confronting Terrorism and Other Evils in China: All Quiet on the Western Front? Volume 4, No. 2 (2006)

This essay for the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program notes that despite the predictions of many observers, and reports of occasional arrests of political activists, China’s restive western regions heavily populated by ethnic minorities have been relatively quiet for a number of years. However, disturbances by ethnic minorities can recur with little forewarning. It also offers Beijing a warning: with the Chinese government yet to acknowledge that closing legitimate channels for expressing grievances by those in the western regions – even if they reflect unhappiness with the political status-quo – may force ordinary Chinese who are not separatists into pursuing violence and terrorism to express their dissatisfaction.

CSIS: U.S.-China Relations: China Signals Irritation with U.S. Policy, Comparative Connections v.9 n.4 (January 2008)

Bonnie Glaser of CSIS presents both a 2007 year in review of Sino-U.S. relations, and discusses the relationship heading into 2008. Beginning with the incident in which the USS Kitty Hawk was denied entry to Hong Kong, Glaser charts key political, defense and economic events affecting the U.S.-China relationship in 2007, and notes upcoming meetings in 2008. The essay also offers a detailed chronology of U.S.-China relations from October-December 2007.

Stratfor: China: An Outside-the-Box Terrorist Plot? (March 19, 2008)

Fred Burton and Scott Stewart discuss China’s recent announcement that it had foiled a terrorist plot seeking to destroy an airliner by separatists originating in its western provinces. Specifically, this Stratfor report discusses the veracity of China’s claim that flight crew members aboard a Southern Airlines flight in early March prevented a female passenger from igniting two cans filled with gasoline. The paper discusses the separatist Uighur in western China as well as past terrorist incidents involving jet aircraft.

State Department: Country Reports on Terrorism, Chapter 2 -- Country Reports: East Asia and Pacific Overview (April 30, 2007)

Part of an annual State Department report, this chapter discusses the U.S.-China relationship concerning counter terrorism. Specifically, this chapter notes that “ China supported several operational and logistical aspects of the War on Terror.” It also notes China increased its counter terrorism capabilities in 2006 with a focus on improving security for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Brookings Institution: A Mechanism to Stabilize U.S.-China-Japan Trilateral Relations in Asia (January 2008)

This Brookings Institution report examines the three East Asia powers—the U.S., Japan, and China—from the context that the whole region’s well-being will depend very much on these countries and their relationship. However, while there have been various talks and processes such as those among Japan, the U.S., and Australia, and among China, Russia, and India, there has not been any mechanism to bring together leaders from Beijing, Washington, and Tokyo to talk about trilateral and regional issues. This report argues for a formal China-U.S.-Japan forum that will improve communication, understanding, consultation, and cooperation in Asia to ensure long-term peace and development in the region.

China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly: East Turkestan Terrorism and the Terrorist Arc: China’s Post-9/11 Anti-Terror Strategy, Volume 4, No. 2 (2006)

This article by Pan Guang of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences discusses China’s evolving counter terrorism strategy both prior to and following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Specifically, Guang concentrates his study on the separatist “ East Turkestan” movement that originated in the Xinjiang in the early 1990s.

State Department: U.S.-China Relations. Testimony by Thomas J. Christensen, Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment (March 27, 2007).

In an overview of U.S.-China relations, senior State Department official Thomas J. Christensen discusses China’s continued rise as a global power and how Washington engages with Beijing on a number of key issues. As Christensen notes, “Rather than trying to contain China, we are trying to help shape its choices as it rises in influence so that China plays a responsible and stabilizing role in the international system. Despite some areas of real friction, U.S.-China relations are far from a zero-sum game, and if we manage the relationship well on both sides of the Pacific, we should be able to keep it that way.”

Central Asia-Caucus Institute: Chinese Counter-Terrorist Strike in Xinjiang (March 07, 2007).

In the midst of the lead up to next year’s Beijing Olympics and a power struggle in the Chinese Communist Party, a January raid on an alleged terrorist training camp in Xinjiang killed 18 terrorist suspects and one policeman. The raid was also said to have provided new evidence of ties between the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and ‘international terrorist forces’. The raid marks the latest clash between Muslim Uyghur separatists and Chinese security services suppressing opposition to regional Sinification. In this essay, Andrew McGregor offered background on the Chinese Uyghur separatist movement and its implications in China.

 

News and Resource Links:

Olympic Security

China Daily: Beijing unveils security plan for Olympics (March 23, 2005)

Associated Press: China Might Bar Tiananmen Broadcasts (March 21, 2008)

BBC News: China's Olympic security dilemma (March 12, 2008)

Washington Post: China Gears Up for Olympic Security Effort (March 11, 2008)

AP: China Diverts Plane Because of Liquids (March 10, 2008)

Sydney Morning Herald: Massive security boost for Beijing Olympics (February 22, 2008)

Xinhua: Olympic security concerns suspend part of Beijing nightlife area (February 29, 2008)

AP: FBI boss says he is impressed with preparations for Olympic security (January 30, 2008)

The New York Times: China Finds American Allies for Security (December 28, 2007)

 

Miscellaneous Terrorism issues

Washington Post: FBI Opens Probe of China-Based Hackers (March 21, 2008)

Jamestown Foundation China Brief: Anti-Terrorism with Chinese Characteristics: Peace Mission 2007 in Context (October 31, 2007)

China Daily: SCO members tackle terrorism (August 18, 2007)

Jamestown Foundation: China’s Post 9/11 Terrorism Strategy (April 15, 2004)

CIA World Factbook: China

BBC Country Profile: China

Official Website of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

 

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