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executive summary:This essay examines the impact of China's Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) strategy on the country's military procurement and argues that its main contribution lies in increasing China's access to advanced military-related foreign know-how and technologies.main argumentAdopted in 2015, the MCF strategy is the last phase of a prolonged national effort to overcome the embedded hindrances of China's military procurement system by harnessing the civilian sector to that end. The strategy is designed to inject new technologies and R&D into China's military-industrial complex, increase its efficiency, and improve the bargaining position of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) vis-à-vis its suppliers throughout the various phases of procurement. A close examination of the expressed objectives of the MCF, its policy tools, and implementation reveals that (1) the strategy concentrates more on R&D than all other procurement phases, (2) efforts to reduce bureaucratic and functional barriers between the defense and civilian industry sectors face many obstacles, and (3) MCF's greatest achievements lie in transferring advanced military-related expertise from foreign sources to China's military establishment.policy implications•Although the MCF strategy narrows China's military-technology gap with other leading world powers, it does not address the embedded inefficiencies of the country's military procurement system. Hence, its overall effect on the PLA's readiness and warfighting capability is limited.•China's MCF has drawn negative attention from other countries—particularly the U.S.—for the tight relations between the military, civilian industry, and academia. Such criticism affects China's political, technological, and economic relationships with these countries and may have detrimental consequences for relevant Chinese sectors.•MCF's record may provide another demonstration of China's difficulty in injecting market forces into its state-owned sector as well as in addressing problems of inefficiency through measures other than economic liberalization.

AbstractSince the early twenty-first century, interaction between East Asia and the Middle East has grown considerably. An expected, though understudied, consequence of this development is a gradual spillover of the intra-East Asian political process to the Middle East. Attempting to enhance the understanding of this understudied aspect of East-West Asia relations, as well as new aspects of the China-Japan dynamic, this article explores the competition and possible expansion of the Sino-Japanese rivalry into the Middle East. To examine more concretely we focus on two areas of activities that exceed China’s and Japan’s traditional interests in the Middle East: the utilisation of Middle East events by Japan to loosen its half-century restrictions on the use of military force, and China’s respective response; and Japan’s reaction to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

In recent years, the ties between Asian powers and Middle Eastern countries have grown significantly, and the consequence of this development is a gradual spin-off of intra-Asian political process to the Middle East. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) provides an intriguing illustration of such a possible spin-off. Japan’s response to BRI is mostly negative but less clear is the possible implications of the China–Japan confrontation over BRI for their interaction with the Middle East. Japan’s responses to the BRI and China’s perceptions thereof can expand the set of factors that shape the two Asian powers’ involvement in that region.

Israel’s China policy has traditionally been influenced by Washington’s explicit and perceived pressure. In the early 2010s, Israel started to explore a more independent path in regard to China. In view of global developments, such a change seemed reasonable. However, prevailing conditions prevent Israel from developing an independent China policy.

The article focuses on the potential participation of China in the stabilization efforts of the Middle East through regional connectivity.

The article discusses how the establishment of a new logistics support force in China's military is part of a broad reorganization effort undertaken over the last year to streamline the party leadership's command over the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and to enhance its operational capability.