China is a major power in the Ghost in the Shell universe.
Original continuity[]
In 1999, China's capital of Beijing was destroyed by a meteor impact, resulting in the fall of the Communist Party of China. China subsequently reorganized as a multi-party democracy with a greater degree of political and personal freedom, and peacefully reunited with Taiwan.
As the 21st century progressed, China became the world's largest economy and joined a trading bloc with most of Southeast Asia and India. It entered into a cold war with the American Empire, but reconciled and strengthened its relationship with Japan, a development that put the Americans on edge. Despite China's rapid economic growth, however, poverty was still commonplace.
Shortly after World War IV, China built an artificial atoll in Okinawan waters called Nata, which encroached on Okinawa economically and brought with it the Qingshe triad. The Qingshe engaged in a turf war with Okinawa's Yambaru Industries, a yakuza syndicate.[1]
Stand Alone Complex continuity[]
During nuclear World War III in the early 2000s, the People's Republic of China was the primary aggressor against Japan. It was responsible for bombing Tokyo, Maizuru, Niigata, Sendai, and Okinawa Island. The PRC was also apparently affected by non-nuclear World War IV, as Chinese nationals were among the refugees taken in by Japan.
In 2032, staff at the Chinese embassy in Japan were taken hostage by terrorists in the first incident tied to the Individual Eleven. The hostages were rescued unharmed by Public Security Section 9. Not long afterward, Chinese Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Jin was granted permission by the Japanese government to make a state visit to the Kagoshima War Dead Memorial. The Chinese government had originally requested to visit the memorial in 2027 since many Chinese had also been living on Okinawa when it was bombed, but the Japanese had been reluctant to accede. Jin's visit was protested by numerous Japanese demonstrators, but aside from an assassination attempt that was quietly thwarted by Section 9, the event proceeded without incident. Later, around the same time as Japan and the American Empire agreed on a new security treaty, China also finally normalized relations with Taiwan.[2]
By 2042, China was one of the world's four largest economies, known as the G4. It agreed to initiate the Sustainable War in cooperation with the G4's other members: the Russian Federation, European Union, and American Empire. Like all other countries around the world, China was also thrown into disarray by the Synchronized Global Default in 2044.[3]