In a little noticed event on New Year’s Day, China inaugurated its first non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of soft power—China Public Diplomacy Association (CPDA). Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi attended and spoke at the unveiling ceremony for the group, which elected as its president Li Zhaoxing, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of China’s National People’s Congress. Addressing the group […]
ON JANUARY 2nd front pages of many Chinese newspapers carried identical headlines. “Greater political courage”, they proclaimed, was needed in the execution of reforms. But even as they try to signal their openness to change, China’s new leaders are nervous of demands that they move faster to loosen the Communist Party’s grip. Most worryingly for […]
2013 will be remembered as the year China became a more “normal economy”. What does normality mean for China? Soon-to-depart Premier Wen Jiabao’s oft-cited quote that China’s growth is “unbalanced, unsustainable and uncoordinated” is a good place to start. China was an abnormal economy with its state-led capitalist approach that produced double-digit growth rates, no […]
As China keeps extending its interests abroad, some predict that neighboring countries will form a coalition to counter it. Any of three states could take the lead on building such an alliance: India, South Korea, or Japan. Each has a different mix of technological, economic, and diplomatic power that — when combined with the resources […]
The Chinese feel strongly about China, but are indifferent to the party. Yet state and party are united, and the absence of popular responsibility towards keeping the party as government could see the country forfeited. Political participation is the key to the stalemate. During the next plenary session of the Chinese parliament, the National People’s […]
Not so long ago the question how to deal with China was an evolving conundrum. It is real now. As real as an elephant — looming large over all that it views, with a large appetite and largely prepared for a fight but peaceful until provoked. And just like the pachyderm, feared. In an increasingly […]
The year 2012 will go into the history books as one of contrasting transitions. China’s five- year cycle for Communist Party congresses and leadership turnover overlapped with the U.S.’s four-year electoral calendar. And if that once-in-20-years coincidence wasn’t enough, Egypt’s rocky shift from dictatorship to democracy continues to remind us of what transition looks like in […]
Bloomberg News mapped the families of Communist China’s “Eight Immortals” to reveal the origins of princelings, an elite class that has been able to amass wealth and influence, and exploit opportunities unavailable to most Chinese. Bloomberg tracked 103 people – descendants including children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, and their respective spouses. The Immortals, now all […]
In ways that China’s leaders were probably not expecting, the Year of the Dragon lived up to its hype. According to the Chinese zodiac, 2012 — as a dragon year — was supposed to be particularly lucky and momentous, charged with auspicious signs of change. While the Chinese government may dispute that this year has […]
Lying in a Beijing military hospital in 1990, General Wang Zhen told a visitor he felt betrayed. Decades after he risked his life fighting for an egalitarian utopia, the ideals he held as one of Communist China’s founding fathers were being undermined by the capitalist ways of his children — business leaders in finance, aviation […]
looking beyond borders 