TMC Topic Guide

China

Created: June 30, 2020
Last Updated: June 25, 2023

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Table of contents

China’s foreign relations        

China, Asia, Southeast Asia, and the South China Sea        

U.S.-China relations        

China and Africa        

China-India and South/Central Asia        

China and North Korea        

China and Latin America        

China and the Middle East        

China and Russia        

Covid-19        

Domestic politics and economics

Hong Kong        

Taiwan        

China and the global economy        

China and nuclear weapons/military capabilities        

China and international organizations        

China’s space program        

Internet and social media        

China’s foreign relations

China, Asia, Southeast Asia, and the South China Sea

• Michael Orlando Sharpe, “Shinzo Abe’s death reveals complex story of discrimination and xenophobia,” July 27, 2022.
• James Loxton, “The Philippines elected a dictator’s son. Why are dynasties popular?” May 26, 2022.
• Lucille Greer and Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, “China and Iran announced a new economic and security partnership. That’s not as alarming as it sounds,” April 1, 2021.
• Enze Han, “Rumors are flying that China is behind the coup in Myanmar. That’s almost certainly wrong,” March 2, 2021.
• M. Taylor Fravel, “Does the global pandemic open new South China Sea opportunities for Beijing? Not really,” May 7, 2020.
• Jessica Chen Weiss, “What China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea means — and what comes next,” May 30, 2019.
• Zack Cooper, “The U.S. quietly made a big splash about the South China Sea,” March 19, 2019.
• Daniel C. O'Neill, “China just asserted its hold over the South China Sea. Will ASEAN nations push back?” October 15, 2018.
• Kelly M. McFarland, “Will the Olympics help — or hurt — regional tensions in Asia? Watch for these 3 things,” February 9, 2018.
• Eric Hyer, “Is China ready to budge on the South China Sea? Here’s why compromise is possible,” November 16, 2016.
• Andrew Yeo, “President Duterte is talking tough. Will it cost the Philippines?” October 28, 2016.
• Eric Hyer, “Here’s how the South China Sea ruling affects U.S. interests,” August 11, 2016.
• Jessica Chen Weiss, “Here’s what China’s people really think about the South China Sea,” July 14, 2016.
• M. Taylor Fravel, “Why does China care so much about the South China Sea? Here are 5 reasons,” July 13, 2016.
• Erik Voeten, “Why the South China Sea ruling matters,” July 12, 2016.
• T.Y. Wang, “Japan is building tiny islands in the Philippine Sea. Here’s why,” May 20, 2016.
• Evan A. Laksmana, “Here’s why Jakarta doesn’t push back when China barges into Indonesian waters,” April 28, 2016.
• Benjamin A.T. Graham, Christopher J. Fariss, and Erik Gartzke, “Hey, China, this is why democracies beat autocracies in a fight. (So back off the South China Sea),” December 15, 2015.

U.S.-China relations

• Scott L. Kastner, “What has changed between China and Taiwan?” November 11, 2022.
• Henry Farrell (interview with Chris Miller), “How does the U.S. block China from getting microchips made abroad?” October 8, 2022.
• Dina Smeltz and Craig Kafura, “What Americans think about China and Taiwan,” August 17, 2022. 
• Matthew Amengual and Tim Bartley, “U.S. banned imports from China’s Xinjiang region. Will Americans object?” August 8, 2022.
• ​​​​Jeremy Wallace, “California — not Biden — is leading climate cooperation with China,” June 3, 2022.
• Dimitar Gueorguiev, “The U.S. and China agreed to work together on climate action. What would push this cooperation forward?” November 12, 2021.
• Fiona S. Cunningham and M. Taylor Fravel, “China’s nuclear arsenal is growing. What does that mean for U.S.-China relations?” November 11, 2021.
• Kristen Hopewell, “Would China’s move to join this transpacific trade pact push the U.S. to rejoin? It’s complicated,” September 27, 2021.
• Jiakun Jack Zhang and Samantha A. Vortherms, “U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods didn’t bring companies back to the U.S., new research finds,” September 22, 2021.
• Theo Milonopoulos and Erik Lin-Greenberg, “Commercial satellites — not U.S. intelligence — revealed China’s missile program,” August 3, 2021.
• Jessica Chen Weiss, “The Cold War is a poor analogy for today’s U.S.-China tensions,” July 12, 2021.
• James M. Acton, “Don’t panic about China’s new nuclear capabilities,” June 30, 2021.
• Tom Fox, “When Defense Secretary Austin tried to call his Chinese counterpart, here’s what really got in the way” June 24, 2021.
• Ayse Kaya, Christopher Kilby and Jonathan Kay, “The G-7 wants to mobilize new global financing as an alternative to China’s multilateral push,” June 16, 2021.
• Rachel Myrick, “Democrats and Republicans seem to agree about one foreign policy point: Getting tough on China,” June 4, 2021.
• Jeffrey Ding and Allan Dafoe, “Biden is worried about Chinese control of ‘strategic technology.’ But which technologies are strategic?” June 4, 2021.
• Henry Tugendhat, “Huawei is trying to avoid U.S. sanctions. That may change the U.S.-China tech rivalry in Africa,” April 30, 2021.
• Craig Kafura, “Americans are divided over boycotting the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Here’s the data,” April 12, 2021.
• Jamie Gruffydd-Jones, “Western nations sanctioned China. Chinese media made the most of the criticism over Xinjiang,” April 1 2021.
• Yoon Jung Park and Lina Benabdallah, “U.S. policymakers often criticize Chinese investment in Africa. The research tells a more complicated story,” February 19, 2021.
• Andreas Fuchs, Lennart Kaplan, Krisztina Kis-Katos, Sebastian S. Schmidt, and Felix Turbanisch, “China sent masks, gloves and gowns to many U.S. states. Here’s who benefited,” January 29, 2021.
• Jessica Chen Weiss, “Mike Pompeo accused China of committing ‘genocide,’ an international crime. Biden’s team agrees,” January 23, 2021.
• Kacie Miura and Jessica Chen Weiss, “China’s leaders say that Biden offers a ‘new window of hope.’ Their experts are more skeptical,” January 21, 2021.
• Aparna Ravi and Emmanuel Teitelbaum, “The U.S. banned Xinjiang cotton imports because of forced labor. Textile workers face abuses in other countries, too,” February 10, 2021.
• Rebecca Lissner, “Trump got it wrong at the U.N. America can’t counteract China without global institutions,” September 25, 2020.
• John Kuk and Nazita Lajevardi, “The Trump administration sanctioned China for detaining 1 million Uighurs. Here’s what Americans think,” September 21, 2020.
• Donald Moynihan and Gregory Porumbescu, “Trump’s ‘Chinese virus’ slur makes some people blame Chinese Americans. But others blame Trump,” September 16, 2020.
• Meg Rithmire, “The State Department says the Chinese Communist Party controls Chinese companies. It’s not that simple,” September 8, 2020.
• Naima Green-Riley, “The State Department labeled China’s Confucius programs a bad influence on U.S. students. What’s the story?” August 25, 2020.
• Todd H. Hall, “The U.S. has dialed up the rhetoric on Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea,” July 24, 2020.
• Gloria Xiong, “Beijing increasingly relies on economic coercion to reach its diplomatic goals,” July 23, 2020.
• Jessica Chen Weiss and Elizabeth N. Saunders, “Four things to know about the U.S. decision to close the Chinese consulate in Houston,” July 23, 2020.
• Jennifer Pan and Yiqing Xu, “Trump-era racist rhetoric makes Chinese students in the U.S. less supportive of democracy,” July 17, 2020.
• Caroline S. Wagner, “The Trump administration is curtailing visas for Chinese scientists. That could backfire,” June 26, 2020.
• Remco Zwetsloot, “Sen. Tom Cotton suggested Chinese STEM students head home after studying in the U.S. The research shows otherwise,” April 28, 2020.
• M. Taylor Fravel, “Mike Pompeo criticized China for not respecting its neighbors’ territorial integrity. What’s the story?” February 21, 2020.
• Peter A. Hall and Yeling Tan, “William Barr thinks China is stealing American technology. Can the U.S. halt the exchange of knowledge?” February 15, 2020.
• Henry Farrell, “Bolton alleges that Trump helped out China’s leader on ZTE. What’s ZTE?” January 28, 2020.
• Jiakun Jack Zhang, “The U.S. and China finally signed a trade agreement. Who won?” January 21, 2020.
• David M. Edelstein, “How the U.S.-Iran conflict could help China and Russia,” January 15, 2020.
• Donglin Han, “Will a signed trade deal ease U.S.-China tensions? Probably not,” January 2, 2020.
• Yingyi Ma, “China’s education system produces stellar test scores. So why do 600,000 students go abroad each year to study?” December 17, 2019.
• Dimitar Gueorguiev, “Mike Bloomberg said China isn’t a dictatorship. Is he right?” December 4, 2019.
• Thomas Gift, “China has reasons to keep fighting a trade war,” September 4, 2019.
• Paul Musgrave, “John Bolton is warning of a “Clash of Civilizations” with China. Here are the five things you need to know,” July 18, 2019.
• Scott Kennedy, “Is China a strategic partner or rival power?” July 2, 2019.
• Jack Hasler, “Huawei Marine is being sold. That’s unlikely to change the threat it poses,” June 5, 2019.
• Steven Ward, “Because China isn’t ‘Caucasian,’ the U.S. is planning for a ‘clash of civilizations.’ That could be dangerous,” May 4, 2019.
• Jessica Chen Weiss, “No, China and the U.S. aren’t locked in an ideological battle. Not even close,” May 4, 2019.
• Xiaoyu Pu, “What might be lost as China and the U.S. make it harder for scholars to travel back and forth?” May 1, 2019.
• R. Lincoln Hines, “Is China catching up to the United States in space?” April 24, 2019.
• Andrea Gilli and Mauro Gilli, “Is China’s cyberespionage a military game-changer?” March 14, 2019.
• Jack Hasler, “Huawei is better positioned to spy on us than we think,” March 13, 2019.
• Jeffrey Kucik, “Trump may be ending the trade war with China. Who won?” February 27, 2019.
• Daniel McDowell and David A. Steinberg, “The U.S. wants China to adjust its exchange rate policy. That might backfire,” February 25, 2019.
• Joshua Shifrinson, “The ‘new Cold War’ with China is way overblown. Here’s why,” February 8, 2019.
• James J. Cameron, “What the INF Treaty means for the U.S. and Europe — and why Trump mentioned China,” February 1, 2019.
• Yu Zhou, “U.S. trade negotiators want to end China’s forced tech transfers. That could backfire,” January 28, 2019.
• Brandon Yoder, “Why it’s so hard for the U.S. to have a coherent China policy,” January 17, 2019.
• Samuel Brazys and Alexander Dukalskis, “Why U.S. universities are shutting down China-funded Confucius Institutes,” January 11, 2019.
• Xiaoyu Pu, “40 years later, U.S.-China relations are rocky. Or not,” January 10, 2019.
• Roselyn Hsueh, “Three things that the trade war with China won’t change,” January 3, 2019.
• Jonathon P. Schuldt and Y. Connie Yuan, “Despite what Trump says, most Americans want climate action — even if China doesn’t do its part,” January 3, 2019.
• Yeling Tan, “Will U.S. trade pressure actually change China’s industrial policy?” December 20, 2018.
• Henry Farrell, “The U.S. often takes hostages in trade fights. They usually aren’t live human beings,” December 12, 2018.
• Stephanie Rickard, “Why did Trump agree to a temporary hold on further China tariffs?” December 10, 2018.
• Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman, “The Huawei arrest made the stock market tank. Trump may not even have known about it,” December 7, 2018.
• Cathy Wu, “Trump and Xi will soon meet. What can political science tell us about current U.S.-China tensions?” November 30, 2018.
• Jessica Chen Weiss, “Cornell University suspended two exchange programs with China’s Renmin University. Here’s why,” November 1, 2018.
• David M. Edelstein, “A more assertive Beijing raises new questions for U.S.-China relations,” October 25, 2018.
• Scott Kastner, Margaret M. Pearson and Chad Rector, “What the Trump administration’s confrontational approach misses about China,” October 12, 2018.
• Stacie E. Goddard, “The U.S. and China are playing a dangerous game. What comes next?” October 3, 2018.
• David A. Lake and Jessica Chen Weiss, “The Trump administration wrongly assumed China would capitulate in a trade war. What happens now?” September 24, 2018.
• Chad P. Bown, “For Trump, it was a summer of tariffs and more tariffs. Here’s where things stand,” September 13, 2018.
• David A. Lake, “Worried about tariffs? Trade blocs are the real danger to the U.S. and China,” August 24, 2018.
• John Seungmin Kuk, Deborah Seligsohn, and Jiakun Jack Zhang, “Why Republicans don’t push back on Trump’s China tariffs — in one map,” August 7, 2018.
• Ling Chen, “How this trade war could backfire — in China’s favor,” June 25, 2018.
• Seo-Hyun Park and Il Hyun Cho, “The Pentagon has officially canceled military exercises with South Korea. Here’s what comes next,” June 21, 2018.
• Andrew Kennedy, “Trump takes aim at China’s tech sector. That could hurt U.S. innovation,” June 11, 2018.
• Graham Webster, “China’s ZTE has long been on Washington’s radar, for quite a few reasons. Here’s the story,” May 22, 2018.
• Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman, “Trump’s U-turn on Chinese mega-firm ZTE damages U.S. power and credibility,” May 14, 2018.
• Kristen Hopewell, “What is ‘Made in China 2025’ — and why is it a threat to Trump’s trade goals?” May 3, 2018.
• Henry Farrell, Can Huang and Abraham Newman, “Trump doesn’t like China’s economic nationalism. So why is his administration stirring it up?” April 24, 2018.
• Yu Zheng, “How will China react to Trump’s tariffs? Here are 5 things you should know,” March 29, 2018.
• Ka Zeng, “Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products won’t work. Here’s why,” March 20, 2018.
• Chad P. Bown, “China’s latest trade maneuver is worrying. Here’s the story,” February 6, 2018.
• Mira Rapp-Hooper, “The 5 things we learned from Trump’s Asia trip,” November 15, 2017.
• Roselyn Hsueh, “China’s three new economic challenges for the U.S.,” November 13, 2017.
• Richard A. Moss, “Donald Trump is wrong. When Democrats were offered secret help by the Soviets, they refused,” July 13, 2017.
• Joshua Rovner, “Could the U.S. and China end up in a terrible war that neither wants?” May 30, 2017.
• Roselyn Hsueh, “What will Trump change about trade relations with China? Here’s what you need to know,” January 10, 2017.
• Erik Lin-Greenberg, “So China seized a U.S. drone submarine? Welcome to the future of international conflict,” December 23, 2016.
• Loriana Crasnic, Nikhil Kalyanpur, and Abraham Newman, “This is how Trump might take on China — if he doesn't shoot himself in the foot first,” December 20, 2016.
• Victoria Reyes, “A Trump-Duterte would be complicated — but so are U.S.-Philippine ties,” December 16, 2016.
• Chad P. Bown, “Trump says China is not a market economy. That’s a big deal,” December 12, 2016.
• Steven Goldstein, “Trump risks war by turning the One China question into a bargaining chip,” December 12, 2016.
• Luis Schenoni, “Trump is making China angry. Could China undermine the U.S. in Latin America?” December 3, 2016.
• Andrea Cerrato, Francesco Ruggieri, and Federico Maria Ferrara, “Trump won in counties that lost jobs to China and Mexico,” December 2, 2016.
• Erin Baggott Carter, “China’s state-run media favors Clinton over Trump,” October 27, 2016.
• Matto Mildenberger and Dustin Tingley, “In two graphs, here’s what experts think about whether the U.S. and China can stick to their climate agreements,” December 14, 2015.
• Henry Farrell, “What you need to know about the cyberspying deal with China,” October 1, 2015.
• Rob Galantucci, “Why it is so difficult for Congress to act on currency manipulation,” May 20, 2015.

China and Africa

• John McCauley, Margaret Pearson, and Xiaonan Wang, “Africa’s leaders welcome Chinese private investment. How do Africans feel?” December 9, 2021.
• Veda Vaidyanathan, “A Chinese airport project in Zanzibar floundered. Here’s what the new G-7 infrastructure plan can learn,” August 18, 2021.
• Natalie Herbert, “China’s Belt and Road Initiative invests in African infrastructure — and African military and police forces,” April 30, 2021.
• Yoon Jung Park, “Chinese investment in Africa involves more than megaprojects. Private enterprises also are making their mark,” April 17, 2021.
• Ding Fei, “Chinese companies have different ways of managing African employees,” April 9, 2021.
• Frangton Chiyemura, “Chinese firms — and African labor — are building Africa’s infrastructure,” April 2, 2021.
• Michael Addaney, “Will Chinese funding help strengthen Africa’s climate change response? It’s complicated,” March 19, 2021.
• Meredith DeBoom, “African countries are helping China go green. That may have a downside for Africans,” March 12, 2021.
• Maria Adele Carrai, “These two African railway megaprojects tell us a lot about China’s development model,” March 6, 2021.
• Lina Benabdallah, “Don’t believe the hype about China’s ‘vaccine diplomacy’ in Africa,” March 5, 2021.
• Kevin Acker, Deborah Bräutigam, and Yufan Huang, “The pandemic has worsened Africa’s debt crisis. China and other countries are stepping in,” February 26, 2021.
• Yoon Jung Park and Lina Benabdallah, “U.S. policymakers often criticize Chinese investment in Africa. The research tells a more complicated story,” February 19, 2021.
• Laura Seay, “What is China up to in Africa? Read this book,” August 28, 2020.
• Richard Aidoo, “African countries have started to push back against Chinese development aid. Here’s why,” October 16, 2018.
• Xiaojun Li, “China is offering ‘no strings attached aid’ to Africa. Here’s what that means,” September 27, 2018.
• Lina Benabdallah and Winslow Robertson, “Xi Jinping pledged $60 billion for Africa. Where will the money go?” September 17, 2018.
• Deborah Bräutigam, “Xi Jinping is visiting Africa this week. Here’s why China is such a popular development partner,” July 24, 2018.
• Lina Benabdallah, “China-Africa military ties have deepened. Here are 4 things to know,” July 6, 2018.
• Dan Banik and Nikolai Hegertun, “Why do nations invest in international aid? Ask Norway. And China,” October 27, 2017.
• Christopher Adolph, Vanessa Quince, and Aseem Prakash, “Do African exports to China hurt labor rights? Here's what we found,” March 3, 2017.
• Janet Eom, “Donald Trump’s team has questions about China in Africa. Here are the answers,” January 16, 2017.
• Kim Yi Dionne, “Here’s what Africans think about China’s influence in their countries,” October 28, 2016.
• Bradley Parks, Roland Hodler, Axel Dreher, Paul Raschky, Michael J. Tierney, and Andreas Fuchs, “Chinese aid is helping African economies, but not in the places that need it most,” October 7, 2016.
• Winslow Robertson and Lina Benabdallah, “China pledged to invest $60 billion in Africa. Here’s what that means,” January 7, 2016.
• Aubrey Hruby and Jake Bright, “Why China’s role in Africa isn’t as dominant as you think,” December 4, 2015.
• Roudabeh Kishi and Clionadh Raleigh, “When China gives aid to African governments, they become more violent,” December 2, 2015.
• Hilary Matfess, “Should you worry about China’s investments in Africa?” September 9, 2015.
• Howard W. French, “Is ‘China in Africa’ something to fear?” July 3, 2015.
• Cullen S. Hendrix and Marcus Noland, “How ‘rogue’ is China’s aid?” June 10, 2014.

China-India and South/Central Asia

• Aidan Milliff and Paul Staniland, “What Indians think about China, and the border clashes,” December 23 2022.
• Layna Mosley and B. Peter Rosendorff, “Sri Lanka can’t count on China to solve its problems,” September 12, 2022.
• Fiona Cunningham, “Was China behind last October’s power outage in India? Here’s what we know,” April 29, 2021.
• M. Taylor Fravel, “China and India are pulling back from the brink. They’ve created a buffer zone and started talks,” March 3, 2021.
• Arzan Tarapore, “India and China are taking new risks along their border. It will be hard to restore peace,” September 16, 2020.
• Christopher Clary, “China and India were both looking to back down from a border crisis. Then soldiers died,” June 16, 2020.
• M. Taylor Fravel, “Why are China and India skirmishing at their border? Here’s 4 things to know,” June 2, 2020.
• Yogesh Joshi, “Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi met again this month. Here are 4 things to know about Sino-Indian relations,” October 22, 2019.
• Bradley Jardine, “Why are there anti-China protests in Central Asia?” October 16, 2019.

China and North Korea

• Carla P. Freeman, “Did Xi Jinping’s Pyongyang visit restart denuclearization diplomacy?” June 27, 2019.
• Leif-Eric Easley, “Why China takes a middle-of-the-road policy toward North Korea,” February 28, 2019.
• Michaela Mattes and Jessica L.P. Weeks, “The U.S.-North Korea summit could be Trump’s ‘Nixon-to-China’ moment,” May 10, 2018.
• Rush Doshi, “Three takeaways from Kim Jong Un’s trip to China,” March 30, 2018.
• Mira Rapp-Hooper, “Here are 5 takeaways from Trump’s startling nuclear threats against North Korea,” August 21, 2017.
• Joseph Torigian, “Don’t count on China to rein in North Korea. Here’s why,” February 17, 2017.

China and Latin America

• Stephen B. Kaplan and Michael Penfold, “China and Russia have deep financial ties to Venezuela. Here’s what’s at stake,” February 22, 2019.
• Matt Ferchen, “Why did China stand by Maduro in Venezuela?” February 5, 2019.
• Stephen Kaplan, “China is investing seriously in Latin America. Should you worry?” January 24, 2018.
• Stephen Kaplan, “Why China is investing $250 billion in Latin America,” February 4, 2015.

China and the Middle East

• Jonathan Fulton, “China’s making inroads in the Middle East. The Trump administration isn’t happy,” June 3, 2020.
• Jonathan Fulton, “China’s power in the Middle East is rising,” August 9, 2018.
• Jonathan Fulton, “China is trying to pull Middle East countries into its version of NATO,” June 21, 2017.
• Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, “The Gulf states are turning to Asia in a big way. Here’s why it matters,” April 21, 2017.
• Jonathan Fulton, “Why is Saudi Arabia’s king spending a month in Asia?” March 6, 2017.

China and Russia

• Carla Norrlöf, “China and Russia announced a joint pledge to push back against dollar hegemony,” April 9, 2021.
• Dmitry Gorenburg, “5 things to know about Russia’s Vostok-2018 military exercises,” September 13, 2018.

Covid-19

See also TMC Topic Guide on covid-19.

• Hanjie Wang, Nives Dolšak, and Aseem Prakash, “China’s covid-19 stimulus plan isn’t as green as it looks,” August 3, 2020.
• Yanzhong Huang, “Trump’s decision to pull U.S. out of WHO will boost China’s influence,” June 23, 2020.
• Alexander Cooley and Daniel Nexon, “Trump announced the U.S. will suspend WHO funding. That could leave another global initiative under China’s influence,” May 29, 2020.
• Alexander Cooley and Daniel Nexon, “Trump says the U.S. will pull out of the World Health Organization. China will happily fill the void,” May 29, 2020.
• Stephanie C. Hofmann and Christian Kreuder-Sonnen, “How international organizations are stepping up to respond to the pandemic,” May 4, 2020.
• Zeke Emanuel and Scott Moore, “Economics, not politics, helps explain why coronavirus and other diseases started in China,” May 1, 2020.
• Michael Albertus, “The pandemic challenges democracies — but really hurts dictators,” April 30, 2020.
• Jessica Chen Weiss, “Can the U.S. sue China for covid-19 damages? Not really,” April 29, 2020.
• Toby Shevlane, Ben Garfinkel, and Allan Dafoe, “Contact tracing apps can help stop coronavirus. But they can hurt privacy,” April 28, 2020.
• Jessica Chen Weiss, “How coronavirus changes the political outlook in China and the U.S.,” April 23, 2020.
• Reza Hasmath, Timothy Hildebrandt, Carolyn L. Hsu, Jennifer Y.J. Hsu, and Jessica C. Teets, “Not everyone in China thought the government could handle the coronavirus,” April 17, 2020.
• Dan Chen, “China’s coronavirus response could build public support for its government,” March 27, 2020.
• Ali Wyne, “Why China and the U.S. can’t cooperate to fight coronavirus,” March 26, 2020.
• Jeremy L. Wallace, “China is reporting big successes in the coronavirus fight. Should we trust the numbers?” March 23, 2020.
• Rui Zhong, “China and the U.S. blame each other for the coronavirus. But both countries made similar mistakes,” March 17, 2020.
• Haifeng Huang, “China is also relying on propaganda to tackle the covid-19 crisis,” March 11, 2020.
• Dali L. Yang, “Wuhan officials tried to cover up covid-19 — and sent it careening outward,” March 10, 2020.
• Andrew Mertha, “Covid-19 reveals how China’s internal politics now affect the whole world,” March 6, 2020.
• Dali L. Yang, “China’s early warning system didn’t work on covid-19. Here’s the story,” February 24, 2020.
• John K. Yasuda, “China’s rigid governance system means local health problems can easily go national,” February 3, 2020.
• Joan Kaufman, “Why China’s politics makes it easier — and harder — to control disease outbreaks,” January 29, 2020.
• Elanah Uretsky, “Is China ready for this major global health challenge?” January 27, 2020.
• Catherine Z. Worsnop, “China’s coronavirus outbreak has prompted some travel restrictions. That could backfire,” January 24, 2020.

China-Japan and East China Sea

• Phillip Y. Lipscy, “Shinzo Abe gave Japan far more than ‘Abenomics’,” July 9, 2022.
• Daniel M. Smith, “What Shinzo Abe’s assassination means for Japanese politics,” July 9, 2022.
• Jiun Bang, “China and Japan now seem on friendlier terms. But is this a real bilateral thaw?” May 24, 2018.
• Tim Liao, “Why China, Japan, and Korea fuss over tiny islands — 4 things to know,” April 17, 2018.
• M. Taylor Fravel and Alastair Iain Johnston, “Chinese signaling in the East China Sea?” April 12, 2014.
• James Fearon, “Conflict in the East China Sea: Home Board Game Edition,” December 16, 2013.
• Erik Voeten, “‘Salami tactics’ in the East China Sea,” December 3, 2013.

Domestic politics and economics

• William Hurst, “Chinese protesters are out in record numbers. What changed?” November 28, 2022.
• Shan-Jan Sarah Liu, “China’s top leadership excludes women for the first time in two decades,” November 10, 2022.
• Edmund Downie, “China had another hot summer — and another electricity crisis,” September 2, 2022.
• Lynette H. Ong, “Bank customers protested in Henan, China. Who attacked them?” July 15, 2022.
• Ling Li, “How Xi Jinping could rule China for life,” November 11, 2021.
• Jeremy Wallace, “Xi Jinping wants ‘common prosperity’ in China. He might not be able to make it happen,” October 22, 2021.
• Susan H. Whiting, “China’s Evergrande is in trouble. But so is China’s top-down political economy,” October 21, 2021.
• Kristen Hopewell, “Would China’s move to join this transpacific trade pact push the U.S. to rejoin? It’s complicated,” September 27, 2021.
• Theo Milonopoulos and Erik Lin-Greenberg, “Commercial satellites — not U.S. intelligence — revealed China’s missile program,” August 3, 2021.
• Jessica Chen Weiss, “Does China actively promote its way of governing — and do other countries listen?” July 14, 2021.
• James M. Acton, “Don’t panic about China’s new nuclear capabilities,” June 30, 2021.
• Yun Zhou, “Beijing wants a baby boom. Its new three-child policy probably won’t make one happen,” June 7, 2021.
• Yaoyao Dai and Luwei Rose Luqiu, “China’s ‘wolf warrior’ diplomats like to talk tough,” May 12, 2021.
• Cary Wu, “Did the pandemic shake Chinese citizens’ trust in their government? We surveyed nearly 20,000 people to find out,” May 5, 2021.
• Meredith DeBoom, “African countries are helping China go green. That may have a downside for Africans,” March 12, 2021.
• Jessica Chen Weiss, “The U.S. is using harsh language about the Chinese Communist Party. Who joins the CCP — and why?” July 24, 2020.
• Kai Quek, “Nationalism in China is running high. Here’s how Beijing reins it in,” June 1, 2020.
• Andrew Chubb, “Did China actually try to install a spy in Australia’s Parliament? The many murky details make it hard to know,” December 24, 2019.
• David R. Stroup, “Why Xi Jinping’s Xinjiang policy is a major change in China’s ethnic politics,” November 19, 2019.
• Jessica Chen Weiss, “China celebrates 70 years of communist rule. What explains the resilience of its regime?” October 8, 2019.
• Yuhua Wang, “How has Tiananmen changed China?” June 3, 2019.
• Iza Ding and Jeffrey Javed, “Why Maoism still resonates in China today,” May 29, 2019.
• Jessica Chen Weiss, “What’s the response in China to the trade war?” May 15, 2019.
• James Carter, “Why China’s May Fourth celebrations also bring new concerns for Beijing,” May 3, 2019.
• Genia Kostka, “What do people in China think about ‘social credit’ monitoring?” March 21, 2019.
• Abraham Denmark, “40 years ago, Deng Xiaoping changed China — and the world,” December 19, 2018.
• Joshua Eisenman, “What we really know about China’s Reform and Opening Up,” November 15, 2018.
• Justin M. Jacobs, “Chinese leaders tried before to assimilate the Uighurs. This time it might face less resistance,” October 31, 2018.
• Erica Frantz, Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Joseph Wright, “Did Xi Jinping just become China’s strongman? Not quite,” March 13, 2018.
• Rory Truex, “China’s National People’s Congress is meeting this week. Don’t expect checks and balances,” March 7, 2018.
• Jeremy Wallace, “Is Xi Jinping now a ‘leader for life,’ like Mao? Here’s why this is dangerous,” February 27, 2018.
• Rush Doshi, “Xi Jinping just made it clear where China’s foreign policy is headed,” October 25, 2017.
• Bruce Dickson, “China’s top leaders are meeting. What’s at stake?” October 19, 2017.
• Diana Fu, “Why is Beijing afraid of Chinese feminists?” July 27, 2017.
• Juan Wang, “Xi Jinping is ‘putting the house in order.’ Or is China facing destabilizing changes?” May 23, 2017.
• Haifeng Huang, “In China, rumors are flying about David Dao’s alleged $140 million settlement from United Airlines,” May 10, 2017.
• Dimitar Gueorguiev, “China’s top priorities? Here’s what Communist Party leaders say — and our poll results,” March 30, 2017.
• Lynette Ong, “China just held its National People’s Congress. Here are three key points,” March 21, 2017.
• Nikita Lalwani and Sam Winter-Levy, “Read this book if you want to know what China’s citizens really think about their government,” October 4, 2016.
• Jeremy Wallace, “Here’s why it matters that China is admitting that its statistics are ‘unreliable’,” December 28, 2015.
• Roselyn Hsueh, “China manages capitalism for its own gain. This explains how,” September 24, 2015.
• Yang Jiang, “This explains why China is taking so long to reform its economic system,” September 21, 2015.
• Jeremy Wallace, “The political implications of China’s stock market crisis,” August 26, 2015.
• Stephen Benedict Dyson, “Why you should be reading Liu Cixin, China’s hottest science-fiction writer,” August 8, 2015.
• Alastair Iain Johnston, “Anti-foreigner propaganda is not spiking in China,” December 2, 2014.
• Jason Lyall, “Corruption and a changing China,” October 27, 2014.
• Andrea den Boer and Valerie M. Hudson, “The security risks of China’s abnormal demographics,” April 30, 2014.
• Henry Farrell, “China inflates its GDP statistics,” April 30, 2014.
• Jack Snyder, “Five lessons for China about ‘peaceful rise’ from 1914,” April 28, 2014.
• Joshua Tucker, “Crossing the line in China: Calls for action, not simply dissent,” October 15, 2013.

Hong Kong

• Stephen Bagwell, Meridith LaVelle, and K. Chad Clay, “How far have human rights in Hong Kong eroded? We measured,” June 30, 2022.
• Maggie Shum, “One year on, here’s how China’s national security law has changed Hong Kong,” June 30, 2021.
• Maggie Shum, “How China’s new national security law will hobble Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement,” July 14, 2020.
• Allen Carlson, “What’s in store for Hong Kong? Look at Tibet,” June 2, 2020.
• Michael C. Davis and Victoria Tin-bor Hui, “China’s new national security law for Hong Kong will erode Hong Kong’s autonomy,” May 27, 2020.
• Victoria Tin-bor Hui, “Hong Kong citizens just voted for more democracy. What happens now?” November 26, 2019.
• Michael C. Davis, “In Hong Kong, Beijing’s tough talk could spark a constitutional crisis,” November 21, 2019.
• Maggie Shum, “Hong Kong’s District Council elections take place on Nov. 24. Or not,” November 14, 2019.
• Daniel Mattingly, “The Hong Kong protests have been going on for months. What explains this sustained action?” September 30, 2019.
• Andrea Binder, “Why China’s wealthy elites have so much at stake in Hong Kong,” August 21, 2019.
• Kecheng Fang, “What is China’s propaganda machine saying about the Hong Kong protests?” August 19, 2019.
• Jessica Chen Weiss, “Hong Kong waits for Beijing’s next move. Here’s what the experts say,” August 15, 2019.
• Nathan Kar Ming Chan, Lev Nachman and Chit Wai John Mok, “How fears of ‘mainlandization’ fuel Hong Kong’s mass protests,” July 3, 2019.
• Vanessa Lide, “Why are there massive protests in Hong Kong?” June 11, 2019.
• Michael C. Davis, “Debate over Hong Kong’s proposed extradition law devolves into a scuffle in the legislative council,” May 11, 2019.
• Victoria Tin-bor Hui, “There’s a new chapter in Hong Kong’s struggle for democracy and autonomy,” May 2, 2019.
• Victoria Tin-bor Hui, “20 years ago, China promised Hong Kong ‘1 country, 2 systems.’ So much for promises,” June 29, 2017.
• Akos Lada, “Why China won’t let Hong Kong democratize,” October 2, 2014.

Taiwan

• Dina Smeltz and Emily Sullivan, “Liberal Democrats are more hawkish than you might think,” November 18, 2022
• Scott L. Kastner, “What has changed between China and Taiwan?” November 11, 2022
• Dina Smeltz and Craig Kafura, “What Americans think about China and Taiwan,” August 17, 2022.
• Yao-Yuan Yeh, Fang-Yu Chen, Austin Horng-En Wang, and Charles K.S. Wu, “Taiwanese people will be reassured by Pelosi’s visit, research says,” August 2, 2022.
• Wei-Ting Yen and Li-Yin Liu, “Taiwan is moving away from ‘zero-covid.’ That’s harder than it seems,” June 2, 2022.
• Jie Dalei, “How China sees the U.S. policy of ‘strategic ambiguity’ in the Taiwan Strait,” October 16, 2020.
• Steven M. Goldstein, “China is getting tough with Taiwan. How will that affect U.S. policy?” October 2, 2020.
• Shelley Rigger, “What Taiwan’s election says about Beijing’s Taiwan policy,” January 22, 2020.
• Enze Han and Joseph O'Mahoney, “What will Taiwan’s same-sex marriages mean in the rest of Asia?” May 25, 2019.
• Ketian Vivian Zhang, “China is pushing back against Taiwan for these three reasons,” April 8, 2019.
• Jie Dalei, “Three big takeaways from Xi Jinping’s Taiwan speech,” January 10, 2019.
• Alastair Iain Johnston and George Yin, “Beijing wants Taiwanese to identify as Chinese. But how do Taiwanese really feel?” June 4, 2018.
• Scott Kastner, “China-U.S.-Taiwan relations are in choppy waters. Here’s what’s going on,” April 30, 2018.
• Fang-Yu Chen, Wei-ting Yen, Austin Horng-en Wang and Brian Hioe, “The Taiwanese see themselves as Taiwanese, not as Chinese,” January 2, 2017.
• Kacie Miura and Jessica Chen Weiss, “Will Beijing cut Trump some slack after that phone call with Taiwan?” December 6, 2016.
• Roselyn Hsueh, “Taiwan kicked out its ruling party for getting too close to mainland China. Here’s what comes next,” February 1, 2016.
• T.Y. Wang, “Will Beijing be gobsmacked by Taiwan’s election results on Saturday?” January 15, 2016.
• Austin Wang, “Taiwan and mainland China in talks? Here are the 5 things you need to know about what Taiwanese people are thinking,” November 6, 2015.

China and the global economy

• Lindsay Dolan, Robert Kubinec, Daniel Nielson, and Jiakun Jack Zhang, “Trump’s trade war with China failed. Why didn’t U.S. companies push back more?” February 16, 2022.
• Kristen Hopewell, “Would China’s move to join this transpacific trade pact push the U.S. to rejoin? It’s complicated,” September 27, 2021.
• Alvin Camba, “Two of China’s Belt and Road projects reveal a flaw in the G-7’s new global financing plan,” June 29, 2021.
• Ayse Kaya, Christopher Kilby and Jonathan Kay, “The G-7 wants to mobilize new global financing as an alternative to China’s multilateral push,” June 16, 2021.
• Kecheng Fang, “China’s backlash against Western brands may be short-lived,” April 21, 2021.
• Jamie Gruffydd-Jones, “Western nations sanctioned China. Chinese media made the most of the criticism over Xinjiang,” April 1 2021.
• Maria Adele Carrai, “These two African railway megaprojects tell us a lot about China’s development model,” March 6, 2021.
• Scott Wingo, “How will China respond when low-income countries can’t pay their debts?” June 30, 2020. 
• Daniela Donno and Nita Rudra, “Developing countries have been busy forging trade agreements — with one another,” May 26, 2020.
• Xiaojun Li and Ka Zeng, “Beijing is counting on its massive Belt and Road Initiative. But are Chinese firms on board?” May 14, 2019.
• Scott Moore, “The Huawei fallout leaves companies and countries with an impossible choice,” December 17, 2018.
• Bradley Parks, Richard Bluhm, Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Austin M. Strange, and Michael J. Tierney, “Belt and Road projects direct Chinese investment to all corners of the globe. What are the local impacts?” September 11, 2018.
• Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman, “China is reportedly hacking computer motherboards. The economic fallout could be huge,” October 4, 2018.
• Daniel McDowell, “Beijing is taking on a broader financial role. Here’s why that matters,” June 14, 2018.
• Roselyn Hsueh, “Why is China suddenly leading the climate change effort? It’s a business decision,” June 23, 2017.
• Sarah Bauerle Danzman and Kindred Winecoff, “This is why you shouldn’t blame China for the havoc in the markets,” August 27, 2015.
• Samuel Ramani, “Hey, Putin, have you seen how much China is investing in Ukraine?” July 24, 2015.

China and nuclear weapons/military capabilities

• Fiona S. Cunningham and M. Taylor Fravel, “China’s nuclear arsenal is growing. What does that mean for U.S.-China relations?” November 11, 2021.
• James J. Cameron, “What did China test in space, exactly, and why?” October 21, 2021.
• James M. Acton, “Don’t panic about China’s new nuclear capabilities,” July 27, 2021.

China and international organization

• Ayse Kaya, Christopher Kilby, and Jonathan Kay, “The G-7 wants to mobilize new global financing as an alternative to China’s multilateral push,” June 16, 2021.
• Courtney J. Fung and Shing-Hon Lam, “China already leads 4 of the 15 U.N. specialized agencies — and is aiming for a 5th,” March 3, 2020.
• Courtney J. Fung, “Is China’s influence at the United Nations all it’s cracked up to be?” October 7, 2019.
• Kristen Hopewell, “The WTO just ruled against China’s agricultural subsidies. Will this translate to a big U.S. win?” March 4, 2019.
• Karen J. Alter, “Trump’s tariffs aren’t the biggest trade problem. Will China step up to protect the WTO?” June 18, 2018.
• Rachel Brewster, “Trump is breaking the WTO. Will China want to save it?” March 2, 2018.
• Chad P. Bown, “The U.S. filed a WTO dispute to save jobs — by increasing imports from China. Here’s why,” July 26, 2016.
• Daniel McDowell, “The IMF just approved the Chinese yuan as a major world currency. What comes next is political,” November 30, 2015.
• Erik Voeten, “Why the rise of China makes the U.S. even lonelier at the United Nations,” October 9, 2013.

China’s space program

• R. Lincoln Hines, “Beijing issued a white paper on China’s space program. Here’s what’s new,” February 2, 2022.

Internet and social media

• Sarah Bauerle Danzman, “The U.S. government thinks TikTok is a national security threat. So why can’t the government decide what to do?” September 23, 2020.
• Geoffrey Gertz, “Is TikTok a threat to national security?” November 11, 2019.
• Jennifer Pan and Margaret Roberts, “These 3 factors explain why the NBA and other companies struggle to push back against Chinese censorship,” October 16, 2019.
• Jason Miklian, John E. Katsos, and Benedicte Bull, “China’s conflict with the NBA shows why companies can’t force social change by themselves,” October 13, 2019.
• Sarah Bauerle Danzman and Geoffrey Gertz, “Why is the U.S. forcing a Chinese company to sell the gay dating app Grindr?” April 3, 2019.
• Henry Farrell, “China is weaponizing online distraction,” October 1, 2018.
• Rose Luqiu and Fan Yang, “Anti-Muslim sentiment is on the rise in China. We found that the Internet fuels — and fights — this,” May 12, 2017.
• Mary Gallagher and Blake Miller, “Can the Chinese government really control the Internet? We found cracks in the Great Firewall,” February 21, 2017.
• Henry Farrell, “The Chinese government fakes nearly 450 million social media comments a year. This is why,” May 19, 2016.
• Seva Gunitsky, “Social media helps dictators, not just protesters,” March 30, 2015.
• Espen Geelmuyden Rød, “Paving the road to democracy or unleashing Big Brother? The Internet under dictatorships,” February 24, 2015.