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Earlier this year China released a new defence White Paper. Like its predecessor two years ago, the paper leaves much unsaid - especially about China's maritime aspirations beyond its immediate waters. In contrast, the equivalent American document sets out a consistent picture of American aspirations, strategy and capability. By comparing the Chinese military budget with those of the US and its allies, it is clear that China is unlikely to be a peer competitor on the wider stage any time soon.

Benjamin Franklin describes how large sheets of paper are made in Europe. He also describes papermaking in China by way of contrast. This description was "communicated by Dr. Franklin to the American Philosophical Society, in which it was read, June 20, 1788."

This paper examines the economic and trade relations between China and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It analizes the current role of China in the world economy and the outlook for growth in the Chinese economy and its impact on global trade. Based on this, the article presents the main data of the growing presence of China in the international trade map of LAC and the evolution of Chinese FDI in the region. The article concludes with a set of recommendations aimed at improving the quality of economic and commercial links between China and LAC. Particular emphasis is given to the LAC's exports diversification oriented to China and Chinese investment's attraction oriented to manufactures, services and infrastructure.

China's increased presence in Latin America has raised alarm bells in the halls of government, the private sector and the mass media. In the span of one decade Chinese trade to the region has increased exponentially from $29 million in 2003 to $270 billion in 2012. Chinese sales of weapons, military training and cultural centers are steadily increasing in the region. This is causing many pundits to believe China's engagement in Latin America is part of a broader geopolitical strategy to counterbalance the U.S. pivot to Asia policy by challenging the U.S. in its strategic backyard. The paper will examine this concern by first exploring how self-image, history, and current economic motivations affect U.S. and Chinese policies in Latin America. The second part of the paper will provide an in-depth look at Chinese and U.S. policies in Latin America. The final section will assess the impact of those polices on cooperation between China and the United States. Despite concerns, China currently is not eclipsing U.S. influence in Latin America. China's presence in the region bears watching. Conflict with China in Latin America could distract the United States from engagement in the Asia Pacific region.

"For decades, the United States has had massive and uncontested nuclear superiority over China. That may slowly be changing. Although it is unlikely that China will seek to sprint to parity in the near term, the United States progressively is reducing its nuclear forces while China slowly is expanding its own. The price of engaging China in multilateral nuclear arms control in the future may be formal acknowledgment that China has a right to parity. Even if multilateral arms control does not transpire, China may change its policy. This paper places the issue of nuclear parity in context by briefly examining what it has meant to the United States in the past relative to Russia and what it may mean, in a different context, to a distinctly different Chinese challenge."--Executive summary.

The United States is the world's preeminent military power due in large part to its technological superiority. This lead in innovative technology supporting national security also includes advances in new and green energy applications. A common ingredient enabling the production of many of these applications is a group of minerals known as rare earth elements (REEs). Two REEs in particular, the refined metals neodymium and samarium, are key components in the manufacture of miniature high-temperature resistant permanent magnets. These magnets are essential to scores of high-technology devices such as wind turbines, hybrid car engines, and computer hard drives. Moreover, they are critical for military applications including precision-guided munitions, tank navigation systems, and electronic countermeasures equipment. The world's demand for REEs is steadily increasing. Simultaneously, the supply of REEs is shrinking, or rather China, which annually produces 97% of the world market's rare earth minerals and controls some 37% of the planet's known reserves, is steadily reducing its output. China dramatically restricted its exports by 72% in the last 6 months of 2010 to satisfy its rapidly expanding national appetite for REEs. China also is progressively acquiring the industrial base to manufacture permanent magnets and their end-products at the expense of American businesses. The entire supply chain of REE permanent magnets is now in China. As the American military and industrial sectors continue their move toward increased reliance on miniaturized high-performance electronics and strive to adopt more energy-efficient technologies, there are concerns that the United States may trade its reliance on Middle East oil for dependence on REEs from China. This paper will illustrate how REEs have become a deeply ingrained need throughout the American economy and, in particular, how rare-earth magnets are now indispensible to the defense industry.

China's expanding influence into the LAC region along with growing Asia-Pacific and LAC relationships present challenges to the U.S. The complexity of the relationships between LAC and Asia-Pacific governments, to include China, suggest the U.S. rebalancing to Asia strategy is inadequate to address the cross-regional impacts. This paper explains political, economic, and military impacts and proposes a broader Pacific solution that links LAC into the U.S.' Asia rebalancing strategy. The political relationships between LAC and Chinese governments can undermine U.S. values of democracy, human rights, rule of law, and international norms. China's soft power through economic statecraft increases their influence by providing trade and investment alternatives other than U.S. options. Increased cross-regional trade flows are also creating integrated supply chains. Last, Chinese arms sales, training exercises, and military education exchanges provide revenue and support their military modernization in Asia. These factors create one integrated problem, not two separate ones. Without a broader Pacific strategic option, the U.S. regional approach to the Asia-Pacific will result in reduced access to markets and future strategic risk to U.S. influence in both regions.

China has cautioned that the military components of the United States rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region complicates the region's security environment and believes U.S. actions are aimed directly at constraining China, ultimately harming its strategic interests. This paper examines the roots of this distrust and why U.S.-China military-to-military confidence building measures will be insufficient to overcome this distrust to improve the relationship between two militaries. Military-to-military relationship building efforts should instead focus more on developing crisis management and escalation control measures.

China's rise and the uncertainty or fear that it inspires in the United States have caused politicians, military leaders, political analysts and even academicians to reference Thucydides who wrote about the Peloponnesian War. According to Thucydides, the rise of Athens and the fear it inspired in Sparta, made war inevitable. Modern historians and political analysts refer to this as the "Thucydides Trap," the idea that a peaceful transition between a rising power and a ruling power is not possible. This paper will examine great power transitions by considering extant Power Transition Theory, the roles that fear, honor and interest play in the competition for power and finally, provide a cursory overview of China's strategic culture (identity, political culture, and resiliency) which influences these motives, informs their national interests, and determines their degree of satisfaction with the international system. Armed with this understanding, policymakers in both China and the United States may indeed avoid the Thucydides trap.

China's rise during the early 21st century is similar to Athens' rise preceding the Peloponnesian Wars. The depiction of China within U.S. strategic and popular culture will shape the debate about how the U.S. should wield its instruments of national power when dealing with China. This paper examines what bronze of China is being cast by Americans via elite political speeches, State and Defense Department policies, and official documents. It also examines the way that China is depicted in the outlets of U.S. popular culture, including high-subscription newspaper articles, political cartoons, and entertaining news programs. Ultimately, the battle of the narrative, or the socially constructed idea of the 'other,' is important. If the portrayal of China is distorted, the caricature can lead to inappropriate, overly hostile, or narrow policy choices in the event of conflict or crisis.

Since the turn of the twenty-first century, the international community has been confronted with numerous challenges and power shifts. On the one hand, upheavals in the Middle East greatly challenge world peace. On the other hand, a rapidly developing Asia is gradually changing the international structure. Many scholars in the United States worry that America's liberty and security are challenged by all kinds of political, cultural, and strategic changes. Both domestic and foreign policies are facing hard choices of what should be done next. This paper focuses on the question of what appropriate foreign policy the U.S. should pursue in the Asia-Pacific, particularly toward China -- one of the major powers in East Asia. The main presupposition is that the two countries should firmly consider cooperation as the primary foreign policy goal because good Sino-American relations would not only bring about mutual benefits, but also facilitate the peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific area on a large scale. The paper will discuss the inevitable necessity of improving Sino-American relations and mutual understanding from different perspectives.

The text of the poem on this Chinese scroll reads top to bottom, right to left: "The plum is the most beautiful one of all flowers. It survives the fierce winter when all other flowers died. I was too young to appreciate the plums, and only when I grow old that I realize that the most noble flower is the plum." Beginning around the 11th century, poems and painted images were included on the same space. The writing on the painting surface was added after the painting was competed and often concerned the circumstances of creation of the painting. Inscriptions were sometimes added by later viewers and collectors and were part of the enjoyment felt by those who saw the painting after they were added. Viewers felt a connection, through their writings, to those who had owned it in the past. The hanging scroll displays an entire painting at one viewing and can be thought of as a lightweight, changeable wall painting. The earliest hanging scrolls may be related to tomb banners, which are known from the early Han dynasty (206 BC--220 AE). Chinese painting uses water-based inks and pigments on either paper or silk that were been treated to prevent ink and pigment from soaking into the surface. The brush used for painting is very similar to the one used for calligraphy, but there is greater variety in the shapes and resilience of brushes used in painting. The small red stylized script impressions are called seals or "chops". They can indicate either who executed the painting or who owned it. The characters in the seal on the left side of this scroll belong to a publisher, the Renmin meishu chubanshe of Beijing (reading from the upper right corner of the impression.).

This scroll of an eagle in a pine tree is believed to represent a wish for strength in old age.

A colorful miniature model of a Chinese dragon head dance mask. The appearance of the dragon head is both fearsome and bold but it has a benevolent disposition, and it was an emblem to represent imperial authority.

The Chinese Southern style of the lion mask displayed here has a distinctive head with large eyes (of an eagle), a mirror on the forehead (demons are supposed to be scared of their own reflection), and a single horn at the center of the head (the source of his life) that was once removed from the head of the lion by the Jade Emperor because the lion was disrespectful. The costumed lion dancers perform appear at funerals, birthdays, the opening of new businesses, special events, and holidays.

Social entrepreneurship, a concept that integrates business strategies with achieving social goals, is gaining traction in China. However, it is a distinctly Chinese variant of an approach exported by Western entrepreneurs. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the Chinese social enterprise by identifying China's socioeconomic and political forces that create the unique environment in which this trent is taking root. By examining how these factors are changing in China's progressively more market economy, I conclude that key characteristics of the Chinese social enterprise are also shifting in response - moving froma civil society-originated model to a market-based social enterprise model. Most actors in this sector maintain a loose definition of "social enterprise" to accommodate their untethered developmetn in an environment with minimal institutional support. This paper relies heavily on qualitative primary research collected in Shanghai, China, recently published primary-source reports, and secondary resources. Advancing the current understanding of how context influences the development of the social enterprise sector, this thesis challenges the conventional wisdom that suggests Chinese social enterprises are defined by their third secotr origins. Instead, incubators' and social entrepreneurs' increasingly flexible and market-leaning criteria reflects the current shift of the Chinese social enteprise moveing futher away from the social sphere and closer to the market sector.

"Exploring Naxi Baisha Xiyue" is a qualitative research descriptive paper delving into the origin of the Baisha Xiyue music style among the Naxi people based in northwest Yunnan province of the People's Republic of China. A brief historical background of Baisha Xiyue includes the Yuan dynasty (AD 1279-1368) invasion by Kublai Khan when he and his army entered Yunnan province in AD 1253. The topic of the remaining eight songs is a Naxi historical conflict with a neighboring tribe. As musical instruments are essential in the performance of this genre, each of the commonly used instruments are introduced and described. These descriptions are followed by a narration of a specific Naxi ancient music performance, text transcriptions on the songs with words and then simple musical analysis, including performance conventions. The conclusion examines Baisha Xiyue in the context of cultural change, quite evident in China over the last sixty plus years. Finally, The appendices have sections covering song transcriptions, very basic Naxi and Chinese language glossaries, discography and bibliography.

"China's trade with, foreign direct investment in, and development assistance to African countries have increased substantially over the last decade. This paper reviews the scope and context of China's economic statecraft in Africa to assess the intent and impact. China's engagement with Africa is a deliberate policy choice to secure its economic and political objectives; however, it is also consistent with the actions of rational actors in a free market. China's policies may undermine or discourage U.S. efforts to create better governance and improved standards of living in Africa, but these effects are incidental and not a deliberate Chinese goal. The United States should focus on its vital interests in Africa and adopt an accommodating posture towards China, facilitating its peaceful rise. As part of its overall strategic rebalancing, the United States should intensify efforts to increase China's participation in international economic institutions to maintain a global international economic system which facilitates U.S. economic strength."--Abstract.

"The identification of the Twenty-First Century as the Pacific Century and the Rise of China signal a transformation in the international order that political leaders and strategists around the globe seek to understand. Most assessments of the strategic factors behind this transformation in Asia tend to focus on the more traditional quantifiable measures of power, such as military and economic power. The concept of soft power, as originated by Joseph Nye, posits an alternative, non-coercive form of power based on attraction rather than force or payment. This paper will review existing assessments and specific case studies of China’s soft power in Australia, South Korea, Bangladesh, and Burma in order to evaluate the effectiveness of Chinese soft power and derive strategic recommendations for the U.S."--Abstract.

"While Chinese leaders continue to tout the clarity of China's strategic intentions, China's pursuit of advanced military capabilities, including anti-access and force projection, offers a different perception. China prospered while the United States has been engulfed in Afghanistan and Iraq, America's longest war to date. On the home front, the war inarguably contributed to an economic crisis and a divided nation. Meanwhile, China has experienced tremendous growth, not only economically, but also militarily. China, spurred by recent economic success, continues to pursue greater military capabilities to protect its resources and extend its influence. If this trend continues, China and the United States may be on track for increased tension in the future. This paper will examine China's strategic intentions and military capabilities. It will also look at current U.S. strategic engagement with China and conclude with some policy recommendations."--Abstract.

This study analyzes the Chinese Red Army from 1927 to 1936 to determine how the Red Army survived attacks from external military forces and also successfully overcame the threats to its existence posed by changing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) policies. During this period, the CCP attempted to develop, expand, and professionalize the Chinese Red Army as a way to defend Communist base areas from a series of Kuomingtang (KMT) Extermination Campaigns. Also during these years, changes in the CCP leadership often placed the Red Army in dangerous situations by underestimating the KMT military threat and overestimating Red Army capabilities. This re-examination of the origin and development of the Chinese People's Liberation Army looks at the Chinese Red Army's strategy, tactics, organization, and training and identifies four themes that helped it adapt and survive: a pragmatic strategy focused on long-term success; creating local populace support through adaptation; strong soldier recruiting, training, and retention; and a comprehensive officer development system.

Intrastate conflicts, ranging from localized rebellions to civil war, increased linearly from 1946 through 1992 and then dramatically decreased in the post-Cold War era. This rise and fall of subnational conflict closely mirrors the proxy wars fought by or between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the United States. Proxy refers to (g)reat power hostility expressed through client states and describes superpower use of these states to pursue strategic and ideological goals within the confines of nuclear deterrent postures extant during the Cold War. 1 This was done in large part to achieve strategic national interests and other political goals without risking nuclear war. In its waning years, the USSR could no longer afford to fund these wars; America ended support to many of these commitments soon after the Cold War ended. 2 The United States emerged from the Cold War as the sole superpower in a unipolar international system. However, evidence suggests this unipolarity could soon change as a new bipolar system emerges with China as the next challenger superpower. Scholars debate the likelihood of future war with a rising China, with each side arguing With resources dried up, former client states and subgroups had little choice but to resolve these conflicts, either via negotiation or decisive victory.

The People's Republic of China is an indispensable political and economic force in Asia. With the majority of the United States' foreign economic interests invested in the Asia-Pacific region, the leading role that China is taking is a major concern. The Asia-Pacific region is strategically important to the US. How US policy makers craft foreign policy toward Asia has a direct impact on US involvement in the region. Unless the US becomes more invested in Asia, develops a comprehensive understanding of China's role in the region, and proactively pursue strategic relationships, US influence in Asian affairs will become a thing of the past. This paper will explore the growing economic role that China is playing in the Asia region, and provide future foreign policy recommendations for the US government.

China and Europe are two of the world's most ancient civilisations. They will be two of the most important international actors shaping the 21st century. Of the world population of 6.7 billion people, China accounts for 1.3 billion and the EU 0.5 billion. With India (1.1 billion) and the United States (0.3 billion) the four entities account for just under half of all mankind. The EU's single market is the largest economy in the world. China's economy is number three, but has been growing at a rate of some 10% a year. The US economy is second. China's largest trading partner is the EU. China, the United States and the EU together account for 55% of global emissions of carbon dioxide. The eastern hemisphere is growing faster in terms of economy, population and emissions than the west. As was shown at the Copenhagen climate change conference in 2009, the balance of global power is moving strongly eastwards and southwards. We are moving rapidly towards a multi-polar world, but with key players. Though it will not compete with the US in hard power, the EU aspires to be one of them. That was part of the rationale for the Lisbon Treaty. Without resolving its relationship with China, the EU cannot achieve its aims.