Japan and the cross-Taiwan Strait conflict

An armed conflict between Taiwan and China is not unthinkable in the future. For historical, geographical, economic, and diplomatic reasons, Japan would not be able to stand on the sidelines. Relying on three major concepts—national interests, path dependence and balance of power, this paper explores Japan’s three possible roles in the event of a cross-Strait conflict. First, Japan could pass the buck, staying out of the conflict as much as possible and providing at most logistical and intelligence support for an American military operation. Second, it could balance power, throwing its weight behind Washington against Beijing. Finally, it could play peacemaker. At the end of the article, the author discusses several key factors that would shape Tokyo’s decision-making in the event of a cross-Strait conflict and assesses the relative probability of each option. He is the author ofExplaining Chinese Democratization (Praeger, 2000). His recent research interests include Chinese pacifism and China’s historical place in the world. For their comments, the author would like to thank anonymous reviewers, Natalie Edwards, Mei Guan, Sujian Guo, James Hsiung, Wade Hudson, Erica Johnson, Chien Liu, Andrew Needle, Anne Schotter, Steve Snow, Liang Tang, Wallace Thies, Yong Wang, and Kim Worthy.     

Crafting village democracy in China: The roles, networking, and strategies of provincial elites

There is no obvious and direct correlation between the provincial level of economic development and democratic level of village elections. There is a great disparity in the level of rural democratization and the implementation of village self-governance among and within provinces. The modernization model alone cannot explain why village elections work well in some provinces but not in others. This paper looks at the political elite’s ongoing efforts at provincial level to conduct village elections and implement village self-governance in rural China. These efforts include the strategies for crafting village democracy employed by provincial elites: elite cooperation, local legislature, political responsibility, political programming, and the art of balancing party leadership and village elections. He has published extensively on China’s village elections and local governance. He is author and coauthor of several books. His current research interests include the development of non-state, local governance, and political participation. The author gratefully acknowledges the anonymous reviewers, Professor He Baogang of Deakin University and Professor Zhong Yang of University of Tennessee for their suggestions on an earlier draft. My special thanks to Professor Joseph Fewsmith of Boston University, Professor Tan Qingshan of Cleveland State University, and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments, as well as to East Asian Institute of National University of Singapore for providing support for this research.     

对影响我国国家安全的若干经济问题的思考

经济安全作为国家安全的重要组成部分,是保障国家安全的必要条件,维护社会稳定的坚实基础。现阶段,金融安全问题,经济发展中的资源环境安全问题,小康社会建设中的公平公正问题,以及和平发展中的外部风险问题,是我国国家安全面临的主要经济问题。我们必须坚持以经济建设为中心,以科技创新提升综合国力,为保障国家安全构建良好的经济基础。     

近代中国警察教育的建立与发展历程

近代中国警察教育的发展与近代中国整个警察事业的发展同步。近代中国警察教育在近五十年的历程中,由散漫渐趋统一,由幼稚渐近成熟,反映了近代警政及警察教育发展的普遍规律。     

中国哲学传统与21世纪中国和人类社会的发展

21世纪,经济全球化的势态为人类社会的发展提供了前所未有的机遇,但同时也存在着重大挑战和问题,甚至潜着诸多方面的危机。认真思考中国哲学传统在21世纪中国和人类社会发展中的作用,无疑很有意义。     

中国-东盟自由贸易区的提出及趋势

“中国－东盟自由贸易区”是由中国总理朱镕基首倡并得到了许多东盟国家的积极响应。这一倡议的提出有着深刻而复杂的背景。中国与东盟同属发展中国家,正面临着各种各样的挑战。要使自由贸易区最终由理念变成现实,还必须逾越区内国家发展差异巨大、社会制度迥异、民族心态复杂等障碍。     

浅议西部大开发中的环境保护及措施

在西部大开发的现代化建设事业中,必须做到资源开发与环境保护并重,加强生态环境建设,维护生态平衡,严厉打击环境违法行为和犯罪活动,有效预防环境犯罪,走可持续发展的道路,履行全人类的共同责任。     

机遇、创新与坚持"三个代表"重要思想 --学习十六大报告的几点体会

江泽民同志在十六大报告中指出,21世纪头20年是中国发展的战略机遇期,中国将进入全面建设小康社会的战略转折时期。面对机遇和挑战,中国共产党始终高举邓小平理论和“三个代表”的旗帜,坚持理论创新,以理论创新推动制度创新和各项事业的创新,在解放思想中统一思想,在应对挑战中倍加珍惜党的团结。     

再论邓小平国家安全思想

邓小平国家安全思想是新世纪维护中国国家安全的指路明灯,它的内容十分丰富,是一个完整的科学体系;以江泽民为核心的党的第三代中央领导集体在世纪之交对国家安全提出了一系列重要的新观点,是对邓小平国家安全思想的丰富和发展。     

我国民营企业的新发展

1997年以来 ,我国民营企业发展出现了一些与以往显著不同的新特点。但总的来说 ,民营企业的发展环境比以前更宽松、更有利了。为迎接 2 1世纪的挑战 ,实现可持续发展 ,我国民营企业必须进行自身变革 ,进一步发展所遇到的政策障碍也亟待克服 ,主要有 :投资领域限制问题、融资难问题、法律地位与法律保护问题 ,以及政府管理与服务问题。