Xi consolidates power, elevates 6th Generation Zhejiang protégés

Xi consolidates power, elevates 6th Generation Zhejiang protégés

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com Despite reports about challenges to his power, President and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping has quietly — and relentlessly — built up his personal faction centered upon cadres associated with the prosperous coastal province of Zhejiang. Members of the so-called Zhejiang Clique are tipped for large-scale promotions […]

Obama strategy in South China Sea dismissed as ‘nothing but symbolic’

Obama strategy in South China Sea dismissed as ‘nothing but symbolic’

Special to WorldTribune.com The Obama administration has no coherent policy on China’s pursuit for total control in the South China Sea,” a key U.S. senator said. “We’ve reached a point now where there’s no denying the fact that China has positioned itself as a geopolitical rival to the United States,” Sen. Bob Corker, Tennessee Republican, […]

Report: U.S. challenged China, 12 other nations on navigation rights in 2015

Report: U.S. challenged China, 12 other nations on navigation rights in 2015

Special to WorldTribune.com The United States carried out “freedom of navigation” operations against China and 12 other countries last year, the Pentagon reported on April 25. China’s sovereignty claims and military buildup in the South China Sea were the main focus of the missions and U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the Navy would continue […]

Report: China plans floating nuclear power plants for S. China Sea expansion

Report: China plans floating nuclear power plants for S. China Sea expansion

Special to WorldTribune.com China is looking to build nuclear power platforms to “sail” to remote areas and provide a stable power supply for its ongoing military and construction activities in the South China Sea, a report said. China Shipbuilding Industry Corp is currently designing and building the platforms, according to a report by the Global […]

U.S. protests after Chinese military plane lands on S. China Sea island

U.S. protests after Chinese military plane lands on S. China Sea island

Special to WorldTribune.com The United States voiced its objection to China’s use of a military plane to land on a South China Sea man-made island in what Beijing claimed was a mission to evacuate three severely ill construction workers. “We’re aware that a Chinese military aircraft landed at Fiery Cross Reef on Sunday (April 17) […]

China closely watching as Burma evolves from a socialist winter

China closely watching as Burma evolves from a socialist winter

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — A new dawn has come to Burma. At long last the political pariah state, also known as Myanmar, has ushered in a new civilian government in which Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has a strong if not formal hand at the democratic […]

Panama Papers implicate relatives of Xi, other top China leaders

Panama Papers implicate relatives of Xi, other top China leaders

Special to WorldTribune.com The Panama Papers have impacted officials at the top of China’s hierarchy which has spent the past year purging top rivals of President Xi Jinping on charges of corruption. At least three of the seven people on the Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee, the Chinese Communist Party’s most powerful committee, including Xi […]

What’s stalling Xi Jinping’s grandiose imperial dream? No money

What’s stalling Xi Jinping’s grandiose imperial dream? No money

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com Remember the “One Belt One Road” (OBOR), a multi-trillion-dollar intercontinental project that underpins President Xi Jinping’s ambition to catapult China to super-power status? The “Silk Road Economic Belt” links China with Central Asia, Turkey and all the way to Eastern Europe through a series of high-speed railways, highways […]

Vietnam detains intruding Chinese refueling vessel

Vietnam detains intruding Chinese refueling vessel

Special to WorldTribune.com Vietnam’s coast guard seized a Chinese vessel in the South China Sea on April 2, Vietnamese state media said. An April 4 report by Thanh Nien News said the crew of the vessel “admitted that they had entered deep [into] Vietnamese waters to refuel several other Chinese boats which were fishing illegally […]

Moscow need not apply: China’s new Central Asia military alliance

Moscow need not apply: China’s new Central Asia military alliance

Special to WorldTribune.com by Geostrategy-Direct Chinese PLA’s chief of staff has officially proposed a Central Asia military alliance that excludes Russia. The proposal was advanced by Gen. Fang Fenghui last month in Kabul, Afghanistan. President Ashraf Ghani spoke positively about the proposal after Gen. Fang promised $70 million in military aid. Beside China and Afghanistan, […]