For Americans, Taiwan’s defense equation is important. The U.S. does not have an “iron-clad” commitment to defend Taiwan. As President Jimmy Carter once observed, however, the Taiwan Relations Act provides a U.S. president with an option to go to war to protect the island. Indeed, America is Taiwan’s only potential security partner in a conflict with the Chinese mainland.

The PRC’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) recently announced the so-called “31 Measures” relating to working relations with Taiwanese entities. But how genuine are these offers, and will winning wallets lead to winning hearts and minds, to paraphrase Lyndon Johnson?

China’s presence in Africa, by the numbers.

In April 2017, President Xi Jinping designated three counties in Hebei Province as the “Xiong’an New Area.” This special development area is crucial for Xi’s “new era” ¬–– and for his legacy. The success or failure of Xiong’an could affect his new vision for China’s development.

China's a lot less scary up close.

China needs a strong leader to maintain stability.

Which countries are looking to the future instead of the past? Which countries are doing the opposite?

The Lotus Tower in Sri Lanka is a hallmark of China’s geopolitical and geo-economic strategy associated with its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and is a symbol that manifests the long diplomatic engagement between China and Sri Lanka.

Apart from the mainstream narrative that Xi is appropriating methods of Maoist political conservatism or autocratic statecraft, China’s domestic imperatives and external conditions prove useful in examining the motivation behind the abolition of term limits.

Should China, a superpower that has recently emerged as a major global player, pay more attention to the image it is projecting abroad about Chinese values?