As the report at the 18th Party Congress has stated, China will hold high the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It will free up the mind and implement reform policies. It will open up, pool strengths, overcome difficulties, and strive to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society. By 2020, when the CPC […]
The passing year was the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) first opportunity to get up close and personal with the United States’ pivot back to Asia, the strategic rebalancing that looks a lot like containment. The PRC spent a lot of 2012 wrestling with contentious neighbors emboldened by the US policy, like Vietnam and the […]
Multinationals operating in China have been setting up factories deep in the interior in search of affordable labor. The drawback: These plants can be more than a thousand kilometers (621 miles) from the coast. For companies exporting to Europe—still one of the largest markets for Chinese goods—shipping by air from Chongqing or other inland cities […]
The diplomatic wisdom of incoming US Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to improve China-US relations, as the Obama administration seeks to rebalance its Asian strategy during the president’s second term. President Barack Obama on Saturday nominated Senator Kerry, the son of a diplomat, as his next secretary of state to replace Hillary Clinton, and […]
Between 2010 and 2020, Chinese and Indian consumers will spend some $64 trillion on goods and services. Chinese consumers will spend approximately $41.5 trillion, with annual expenditures reaching more than $6 trillion in 2020. Indians will spend $22.5 trillion, with annual spending hitting an estimated $3.6 trillion by 2020. Combined, they will be spending some […]
Unlike in democracies, where politicians vying for office first introduce themselves to their constituents, China‘s leaders take a rather different approach. Only after the Chinese Communist Party has chosen its top leader in secret does he begin the process of “introducing” himself to the people. The newly enthroned general secretary Xi Jinping has been busy firing corrupt officials, visiting […]
The new leaders of the Chinese Communist Party may have moved into office, but so far their new policies have not. Yet if these men at the top—led by party General Secretary Xi Jinping—are to resolve a daunting array of problems at home and abroad, they must move quickly to prevent bad situations from growing […]
With 2012 coming to an end, here are some of the larger trends to watch in Chinese cybersecurity in the upcoming year. There are rumors that there will be another round of bureaucratic reforms in the spring. Chinese analysts have pointed out that one of the great weaknesses in their defenses is that institutional oversight of […]
Hu Chunhua, the second-youngest member of the Communist Party’s new Politburo, was appointed party boss of Guangdong, the southern manufacturing hub that has China’s biggest provincial economy. Hu, 49, replaces Wang Yang, a fellow Politburo member whose new post hasn’t been announced, the Xinhua News Agency said yesterday. Wang appeared publicly earlier this month when […]
A question about historical precedents for China’s rise landed in my reader mailbag last week. “What,” my correspondent asked, “is the better optic for looking at China today — Bismarckian/Wilhelmine Germany, or post-Meiji Japan? Or both?” Both! Forced to choose, though, I think Imperial Germany supplies more useful indices for plotting China’s trajectory. Someone should really […]
looking beyond borders 