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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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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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America’s China Strategy, With Rush Doshi
Rush Doshi, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow for Asia Studies and director of the China Strategy Initiative, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss how America should navigate its geopolitical rivalry with China.
![Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque]()
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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.
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In December 2024, EU-China tensions rose over Ukraine, trade, Baltic sabotage, and strained ties with Lithuania.
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In November 2024, EU-China tensions escalated over diplomatic expulsions, suspected sabotage, stalled EV trade talks, and a tougher EU stance under Kaja Kallas.
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In May 2025, China-Europe ties saw rising cyber and trade tensions, selective cooperation, and growing Chinese influence in investment and electric vehicles.
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In May 2025, China deepened its strategic footprint by reasserting territorial claims along the China-India border, backing Pakistan militarily during its clash with India, advancing trilateral talks with Pakistan and the Taliban, escalating tensions in the South China Sea, and expanding ties with ASEAN and the Gulf.
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