1、 https:/crsreports.congress.gov Updated December 22, 2014China, U.S. Leadership, and Geopolitical Challenges in AsiaAfter 35 years of fast-paced economic growth, China is now the worlds second-largest economy in nominal terms and is estimated to be the largest in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms,
2、 with a modernizing military and enhanced strategic clout. China is the United States second largest trading partner. For more than 120 countries, it is now a larger trading partner than the United States. China is also a major investor on several continents. Bolstered by economic success, Xi Jinpin
3、g, Chinas Communist Party General Secretary since 2012 and its President since 2013, has adopted a more assertive approach to issues China sees as related to its “core interests” in sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political control. Such issues include maritime territorial disputes; Taiwan,
4、the island democracy with which China has long vowed to unify, by force if necessary; unrest in the ethnic minority border regions of Xinjiang and Tibet; calls for electoral democracy in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; and domestic dissent. Under Xi, China has also appeared to question