Ideas

Chinese Breakthroughs Bring Quantum Tools Closer to Practicality

Still, concerns of a Chinese “quantum supremacy” should be softened by the realities and difficulties of this new space.

Threats

China's Secretive Quest for Heavier Artillery

A now-deleted post reveals a research contract to test-fire 203mm shells, bigger than anything in the U.S. or Chinese arsenal.

Ideas

China Gears Up for Cognitive Warfare

Like the U.S. military, the PLA is working on wearable sensors and other ways to hone and maintain troops' fighting spirit.

Ideas

China Is Eating Russia’s Lunch in the Defense Market

The script has flipped in the countries’ traditional defense-industrial relationship.

Ideas

China ‘Colonizes’ Space with Its First Rice Harvest

The cultivation of food in orbit is part of a larger push by the Chinese space program toward a lunar base.

Ideas

How the West May Have Helped Build China’s Spy Balloons

Beijing has long pursued aerostat technology, even enlisting French and American firms to help.

Ideas

China Gears Up To Shoot Down US Drones

Its military-industrial complex is already working on a list of technologies needed to fight off swarms of UAS.

Ideas

The PLA’s People Problem

China’s military has long struggled to field quality personnel.

Ideas

How China Is Trying to Turn the US CHIPS Act to Its Favor

A strategic messaging campaign portrays the new law as a counterproductive and lawless act.

Ideas

The Balance of Power Is Shifting Among Nuclear-Energy Titans

Russia and China have overtaken the United States as the world’s premier nuclear-power exporters. But are they comrades or competitors?

Ideas

Putin’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week Looks Even Worse Through a China Lens

A series of meetings reveal how Beijing is stealing Russia’s influence even in its own backyard.

Ideas

How Putin’s Ukraine War Has Made Russia More Reliant on China

Despite Putin’s imperial dreams, in the last six months China has increasingly dictated the direction of the partnership and squeezed more concessions from the Russians.

Ideas

China’s Roadblocks to Becoming A Science Superpower

Historical and structural problems complicate Beijing’s vision of tech leadership.

Ideas

China’s ‘Particle Beam Cannon’ Is a Nuclear-Power Breakthrough

It promises to recycle spent nuclear fuel, making it cheaper and less dangerous—and moving Beijing toward energy independence.

Ideas

Four Ways China Is Growing Its Media Influence in Southeast Asia

Beijing is trying to burnish its image in the region. What if it took aim at America’s instead?

Ideas

China May Have Just Taken the Lead in the Quantum Computing Race

China’s record-shattering processor is 1 million times faster than what Google achieved three years ago–but we are years from the finish line.

Ideas

What Is China Learning from the Ukraine War?

From battlefield concepts to geopolitics, Beijing is sure to be watching with avid interest—and some chagrin.

Ideas

What China Is Actually Saying About Russia and Ukraine

Bits of pro-Russian rhetoric are a far cry from substantive support—or preparations for an invasion of Taiwan.

Ideas

As Climate Change Threatens China, PLA Is Missing in Action

China’s military will have to reckon with a new security environment. When will it start?