1995   Tensions between China and Taiwan are inflamed when the Chinese military conducts missile tests in the waters surrounding Taiwan.

1998   Floods of the Yangtze River in China kill over 3,000 people and leave 14 million others homeless

2002   Hu Jintao becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.

2005   An explosion at the Xishui Coal Mine in Shuozhou, China kills more than 64 miners.

2005   Over 200,000 Taiwanese citizens march in Taipei to protest China's Anti-Secession Law

2005   Protests occur in South Korea and China over approval of high school history textbooks that downplay the nature of Japan's military aggression in World War II.