Why provoke? the Sino-US competition in East Asia and North Korea’s strategic choice

This article seeks to make sense of North Korean provocations in light of the Sino-US strategic competition in post-Cold War East Asia, where such variables as China’s rise, US’s pivot to Asia, and growing Sino-ROK economic ties are driving the strategic choices of major states in the region. The article examines the main motivations behind Pyongyang’s provocations since the end of the Cold War, discusses their implications for the Sino-US strategic competition in East Asia, and offers predictions about the future of North Korean provocations. The central thesis of the article is that Pyongyang has exploited the Sino-US strategic competition in East Asia for its regime survival. By raising North Korea’s strategic value to China, the intensifying Sino-US competition allows Pyongyang to continue provocations, regardless of Beijing’s explicit opposition.     

科学发展观与马克思学派社会经济分析大思路——社会经济科学分析模型的建立与中国适用

社会经济发展理论源于斯密和李嘉图为代表的古典经济学派，是二战后在发达国家广泛流行的理论，其理论及模型的建立强调科学技术进步、人力资本积累、劳动分工以及制度变迁的作用。但发达国家理论家自身存在的认识论缺陷使其不可能科学完整地建立社会经济发展理论及分析模型。因此必须遵循马克思的方法论从理论为实际的反映人手，建立科学的社会经济发展理论，并以此指导和服务于社会经济发展的实践。     

It Takes Two to Tango: Autocratic underbalancing,regime legitimacy and China’s responses to India’s rise

What factors do autocracies evaluate when responding to perceived threats and why might they fail to balance appropriately? I posit that autocratic leaders may choose greater exposure to an external threat if, by doing so, it preserves regime legitimacy. Specifically, the desire to promote a positive image to one’s domestic public creates incentives to publicly downplay a rival’s military progress, which then affects the state’s ability to mobilize resources to respond to the growing threat. I test this theory in the case of China’s response to India’s military rise. This research contributes to balancing theory and empirical work on East Asian security.     

日本和美国的消防实践及其对我国的启示

由于地理、社会等条件的差异，各国的消防各有优势和特色。美国在城市、郊区尤其是高层建筑防火上较为擅长。日本作为一个后发的发达国家，工业化的加速度很大，而多震的地理位置使它在工业火灾和地震火灾的救援上积累了很多经验和教训。在发达国家的发展历程中，有类似发展中国家的迅速城市化和工业化的特征。因此，日本和美国应对城市火灾和地震火灾一些消防技术和经验，对发展我国的消防技术而言是宝贵的财富和经验。     

马克思主义中国化模式论的研究现状及述评

马克思主义中国化模式论的理论研究是学术研究的薄弱环节；它蕴含于马克思主义中国化基本经验、基本规律以及若干问题的研究之中；要深化马壳思主义中国化模式论的理论研究，拓展马克思主义中国化研究的理论视域，深入分析马克思主义中国化模式论的研究困境并积极找寻摆脱研究困境的可能性出路，无疑是十分必要的。     

论边防在中国和平崛起中的作用

中国的和平崛起是指中国以和平的方式崛起,但这并不意味着崛起会抛开以国防为依托。而边防是国防的有机组成部分,边防在维护国家领土完整和主权独立中扮演着非常重要的角色。试图根据边防的各种职能,分析边防在中国和平崛起中的具体作用。     

China's Global Equity Oil Investments: Economic and Geopolitical Influences

In this article, we construct and analyze an original database of overseas Chinese equity oil investments (EOI) in order to assess the relative importance of economic and geopolitical factors in determining the type of countries that are most likely to receive those investments. We find that China's national oil companies (NOCs) choose to make considerable investments in certain oil rich countries while ignoring others. We develop and examine ‘economic opportunity’ and ‘geopolitical relevance’ explanations of Chinese EOI. The economic explanation assumes that Chinese oil companies operate autonomously despite the fact that they are state owned, and that they seek international experience in countries offering less competition but more risk. The geopolitical explanation suggests that Chinese equity oil investments are developed and coordinated by the central government as part of a geopolitical strategy that is designed to bypass the so-called ‘Malacca Dilemma’ and deepen security ties with oil-rich states through the conduct of oil diplomacy. We argue that Chinese EOI tends to reflect both corporate interests and government priorities, and that it generates more liabilities rather than benefits for China.     

Israeli foreign policy and the arms race in the Middle East 1950–1960

Previous accounts of the arms race in the Middle East during the 1950s have focused on the imbalance that resulted from the ‘Czech deal’ of September 1955. While that transfer of weaponry by the Soviet Union to Egypt constituted both a historical turning point and sharp acceleration of the arms race, it was only one of several changes in the regional strategic balance of that decade. This article makes extensive use of archival material in order to identify five phases of the arms race of the 1950s and analyze the manner in which Israeli policy‐makers dealt with the exigencies of procurement during each phase. Except for a brief period following the arms deals with France in 1956 that marked the beginning of the fifth phase examined below, the Israelis never abandoned the attempt to obtain arms from the United States. Israel's success in maintaining a high degree of independence in foreign policy throughout this period was the result of arms purchases from Britain and France that marked each phase of the arms race examined here. Yet, the Israelis considered arms from both of these Western powers to be temporary substitutes for the arms relationship with the USA that came about during the 1960s.     

Certainty of Uncertainty: Nuclear Strategy with Chinese Characteristics

China's nuclear deterrent relies on so-called ‘first strike uncertainty’, which means not letting the other side be confident of a completely successful disarming strike. But in order to deter, the uncertainty must be high enough. After reviewing the developmental history of China's nuclear capability and the evolution of Chinese and foreign leaders’ perceptions of China's nuclear retaliatory capability, this article identifies the criteria of nuclear deterrence for China and other countries. This research can contribute to Sino-US strategic dialogue and deepening understanding of the security consequences of nuclear proliferation.     

China's Naval Ambitions in the Indian Ocean

This article argues that an increasingly sea-power-minded China will neither shelter passively in coastal waters, nor throw itself into competition with the United States in the Pacific Ocean. Rather, Beijing will direct its energies toward South and Southeast Asia, where supplies of oil, natural gas, and other commodities critical to China's economic development must pass. There China will encounter an equally sea-power-minded India that enjoys marked geostrategic advantages. Beijing will likely content itself with ‘soft power’ diplomacy in these regions until it can settle the dispute with Taiwan, freeing up resources for maritime endeavors farther from China's coasts.