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China Strategy Initiative Launch Event
Join us for the launch of CFR's China Strategy Initiative on Monday, June 24
Introducing CFR’s China Strategy Initiative
Competition with China poses a challenge unlike any the United States has faced before. To meet the challenge, CFR's new China Strategy Initiative will answer the questions that go to the heart of American China strategy through fresh analysis, granular policy recommendations, and convenings with experts from around the world.
Watch Introduction Video
Core Questions and Programs
The China Strategy Initiative will launch cross-cutting programs to address four foundational questions.
Research Priorities
Explore CFR’s work on the key issues in China strategy.
Domestic China
Taiwan
China’s Gray-Zone Offensive Against Taiwan Is Backfiring
with David Sacks via Foreign Affairs
Would Trump Abandon Taiwan?
Blog Post by David Sacks
Reading Lai Ching-te’s National Day Speech and Its Implications for Cross-Strait Relations
Blog Post by David Sacks
Defense and Security
Economics and Technology
Geopolitics and Diplomacy
India is Losing South Asia to China
Post by Joshua Kurlantzick
Underestimating China: Why America Needs a New Strategy of Allied Scale to Offset Beijing’s Enduring Advantages
with Rush Doshi and Kurt M. Campbell via Foreign Affairs
China in Europe: April 2025
Article by Abi McGowan and Aanika Veedon
Transnational Challenges
Washington and Beijing Don’t Understand Each Other’s Fentanyl Positions
Featuring Yanzhong Huang and Marcel Arsenault via Foreign Policy
Fentanyl Supply Chains in China: Chinese Fentanyl Makers and Domestic Circulation
Blog Post by Zongyuan Zoe Liu
China’s Battle Against Air Pollution: An Update
Blog Post by Yanzhong Huang
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Tracking China’s Investment in Overseas Airports
This interactive map tracks China’s growing network of investments in overseas airports. Users can plot the location of each airport and view satellite images alongside detailed information on which Chinese entities are involved in each project, the share of Chinese ownership (if any), the total dollar value of Chinese investment and the physical attributes of the runways, among others.
![Cambodian carrier Angkor Airways is seen at Phnom Penh international airport August 31, 2006. Angkor Airways is a new airline which will fly between Taipei and the western Chinese city of Chengdu, and Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)]()
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Tracking China’s Control of Overseas Ports
This interactive map tracks China’s growing maritime influence through investments in strategic overseas ports.
![A massive, loaded container ship being tugged from a shipyard.]()
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Why China Would Struggle to Invade Taiwan
Although China’s ambition to gain control of Taiwan is clear, doing so through force would prove enormously difficult and costly.
![A Taiwanese soldier stands in a line during the Han Kuang military exercise.]()
More From the China Strategy Initiative
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The China-Philippines Standoff, With Derek Grossman
Derek Grossman, senior defense analyst at RAND and professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the confrontations between China and the Philippines over their competing claims in the South China Sea and the consequences for the United States.
![The Chinese naval training ship "Qi Jiguang" arrives at the Port of Manila for a four-day goodwill visit, in Manila, Philippines, June 14, 2023. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez]()
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Confronting the China Challenge, With Dmitri Alperovitch
Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, co-founder and former chief technology officer of cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, and author of World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the geopolitical rivalry between China and the United States, its impact on U.S. interests, and how the United States should respond.
![China's President Xi Jinping attends a "Senior Chinese Leader Event" held by the National Committee on US-China Relations and the US-China Business Council on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco, California, U.S., November 15, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/Pool]()
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A Conversation With Lina Khan: Antitrust, Innovation, and China’s Competitive Challenge
FTC Chair Lina Khan discusses anti-trust, innovation, and U.S.-China competition.
![Image of Lina Khan and Michael Froman.]()
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In June, China’s new travel policy took effect, granting citizens from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay visa-free entry for up to thirty days. Chinese state-backed firms are negotiating with a multinational consortium to join a bid to acquire Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s global ports, two of which are along the Panama Canal. China continues to announce new investment in infrastructure in Latin America, including port expansion in Brazil and electric public transport in Chile.
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In June, China and Russia publicly highlighted their strong partnership, even as a leaked intelligence document exposed underlying distrust. At the same time, China's support for Russia in Ukraine persists, while Taiwan draws lessons from Ukraine's military tactics for a potential conflict with China.
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U.S. officials warned the world about a potential conflict over Taiwan. China accused Taiwanese authorities of hacking. China’s president asserted legal authority over Taiwan. Taiwan increased pressure on Chinese spouses.
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In June 2025, Wang Yi arrived in Europe to mend ties, while Europe barred Chinese firms from medical contracts, raised espionage concerns over China’s planned London embassy, and condemned Beijing’s trade coercion at the G7.
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This May, China and Russia made bold public statements of mutual support and cooperation: they inked deals spanning investment, trade, energy, space, and culture. Presidents Xi and Putin publicly rejected the U.S.-led world order and articulated a new vision, one with Beijing and Moscow at the center. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s intelligence agency publicized new data demonstrating just how big a material contribution China is making to Russia’s war machine.
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Beijing has tightened its grip on Hong Kong in recent years, dimming hopes that the financial center will ever become a full democracy.
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Maritime clashes between China and the Philippines over contested waters in the South China Sea threaten the balance of power in the Pacific and may draw in the United States.
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At the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore last week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that the United States would be expanding its defense partnership with India. His statement was in line …
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India’s space policy, once driven primarily by domestic development goals, is increasingly aligning with that of the United States. How it approaches the norms of space governance, however, could provide a path for other Global South nations.
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India has historically struck a balance between joining multilateral export-control regimes and maintaining strategic independence through bilateral trade deals and domestic investment. That could be complicated by India’s growing defense exports and increasing U.S. unilateralism.
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The United States and India have developed a strong defense partnership in recent years, especially in relation to China. However, they have major differences to bridge: how much to spend on defense, the role of civilian governance, and the independence of their defense-industrial bases.
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In May, China hosted the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-Community of Latin America and Caribbean States (CELAC) Forum in Beijing. Colombia signed onto the Belt and Road Initiative. Public opinion polling showed the United States is ceding ground to China in South America.