The proposal for the 15 th  Five-Year Plan (FYP), approved by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party at its 4 th  plenum in late October 2025, is substantively similar to the proposal for the 14 th FYP. The most important message conveyed in this document is that the party will continue to pursue the security-centered development strategy unveiled in October 2020. Based on the more pessimistic assessments of China’s external environment, the proposal for the ne

China’s elevation of “national security” to a priority has redefined the military’s role in protecting the country. With the National Security Commission assuming responsibility for managing external dangers, the role of the People’s Liberation Army has shifted to one of support. The military remains responsible for ensuring combat readiness and nuclear deterrence, but its contribution to national security consists primarily of non-war actions to augment civilian-led efforts.

Local fiscal constraints have the potential to challenge the Chinese Communist Party’s continued drive for grassroots-level social...

Indiscriminate mass attacks have been increasing in China since at least 2000, with 2024 clocking in as the bloodiest year on record....

This article analyzes how central-local relations have evolved in Xi Jinping’s China from the perspective of elite politics, focusing on...

Survey research in China has long suffered from two core problems—difficulties in obtaining reliable representative samples and...

China has two security services responsible for domestic surveillance. The “political security protection” bureau of the Ministry of...

Minxin Pei. The Sentinel State: Surveillance and the Survival of Dictatorship in China. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press, 2024....