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Chris Buckley
For Chris Buckley's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang chat at the end of the opening session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 5, 2024
China sets robust economic growth goal but no big bang stimulus
Premier Li Qiang targets growth of about 5% this year but signals continued reluctance to use deficit spending for economic stimulus.
Military vehicles carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles during a military parade in Beijing in 2019
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 5, 2024
Fear and ambition propel Xi’s nuclear acceleration
As China’s arsenal grows, its military looks to warheads as both defensive shield and potential sword — to intimidate and subjugate adversaries.
U.S. President Joe Biden with IBM’s System One quantum computer during a tour of a facility in Poughkeepsie, New York in 2022. Chinese spies are challenging the C.I.A. by deploying artificial intelligence and other advanced technology as the two nations try to pilfer each other’s trade secrets.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 28, 2023
Chinese spy agency rising to challenge the CIA
In recent years, China's Ministry of State Security has sharpened itself through better training, a bigger budget and the use of advanced technologies.
Pedestrians cross a street in the Zhongshan district of Taipei. Many voters on the island, especially those in their 20s and 30s, say they are weary of geopolitics and yearn for a campaign more focused on their needs at home.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 5, 2023
The wild card in Taiwan’s election: Frustrated young voters
Beyond geopolitics, they yearn for more focus on bread-and-butter issues such as rising housing costs, slow income growth and narrowing career prospects.
Terry Gou, Foxconn founder and then-presidential candidate (left), former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou (center), Hou Yu-ih presidential candidate of the main opposition Kuomintang attend a news conference in Taipei on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 25, 2023
Taiwan opposition cracks apart, and invites the cameras in
The split over a proposed joint ticket bolsters the governing party candidate’s chances in the coming presidential election. That won’t please Beijing.
U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House on Sept. 25, 2015. Speeches by the Chinese leader show how he was bracing for an intensifying rivalry with the United States from early in his rule.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 14, 2023
Behind public assurances, Xi Jinping spreads grim views on U.S.
Speeches by the Chinese leader show how he was bracing for an intensifying rivalry with the United States from early in his rule.
Chinese President Xi Jinping may have to relinquish some control as his strategy of keeping a firm grip on the economy comes under pressure.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 11, 2023
China’s economic pain is a test of Xi’s fixation with control
Recent troubles have brought into focus long-term problems, and fed unusually candid domestic debate about the direction of economic policy under Xi.
A Taiwan Air Force Mirage 2000 jet fighter landing at Hsinchu Air Base in Hsinchu, Taiwan, in April.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 12, 2023
China’s military, ‘chasing the dream,’ probes Taiwan’s defenses
Day by day, the People’s Liberation Army is turning up the pressure, deploying an ever-wider array of planes and ships.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 22, 2023
Dozens die after explosion in a barbecue restaurant in China
Chinese authorities have become increasingly effective at withholding details of accidents until they are in full control of the situation.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 28, 2023
COVID is coming back in China. Lockdowns are not.
Authorities say that cases are up, and one doctor estimates that there could soon be 65 million cases a week. But China appears determined to move on.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 23, 2023
Three nuclear superpowers, rather than two, usher in a new strategic era
China is on track to massively expand its nuclear arsenal, just as Russia suspends the last major arms control treaty.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 2, 2023
China draws lessons from Russia’s losses in Ukraine, and its gains
The war is a 'proving ground,” that gives Beijing a chance to learn from successes and failures on both sides.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 10, 2023
Xi starts new term in China, with a focus on economy and U.S. rivalry
Despite his personal power seeming secure, Xi faces the urgent challenge of reviving China’s economy and escalating tensions with the United States and its allies.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 26, 2023
China to welcome Belarusian leader, raising concerns over Ukraine
A state visit this week by Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus comes as the U.S. has accused China of preparing to send lethal aid to Russia.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 14, 2023
China’s top airship scientist promoted program to watch the world from above
Corporate records and media reports reveal an airship scientist at the center of China’s high-altitude balloon program. Companies he has founded were among those targeted by Washington.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jan 19, 2023
A shrinking, aging China may have backed itself into a corner
Mounting population pressures may reveal a government that has not done enough to avoid tough choices in coming decades.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 20, 2022
From 'zero-COVID' to no plan: Behind China’s pandemic U-turn
Xi's own formula for beating back COVID may have inadvertently set China up for this jolting and potentially devastating turn.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 1, 2022
For China’s leader, another dilemma: How to mourn Jiang Zemin
Paying tribute to Jiang while preventing him from becoming a symbolic cudgel against the current regime will be a challenge for Xi Jinping in the coming weeks
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 24, 2022
China’s leader now wields formidable power. Who will say no to him?
Xi Jinping has created a new ruling elite packed with loyalist officials primed to elevate his agenda of bolstering national security and of turning China into a technological great power.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 23, 2022
China hangs on Xi’s every word. His silence also speaks volumes.
At the important Communist Party congress last week, the Chinese leader didn't mention two long-repeated maxims. To many, it's a warning of the turbulent times ahead.

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