In Tiananmen Square last year, when the stolid National Museum of China reopened its doors following a costly renovation, a 31-foot-tall statue of Confucius stood outside. A short while later the statue mysteriously disappeared. The museum offered no explanation. But speculation ran high that as the decade-old effort to reinsert Confucius into Chinese society has […]
It is true that foreigners are never really viewed as Chinese. The sooner foreigners accept that, and learn what limitations that means, the faster they can focus on building profitable businesses. Few foreigners have lived in China for decades (even five years is considered a long time by many), so most are viewed as vagabonds […]
In the latest step in its naval modernization and expansion, China recently announced that it is accelerating serial production of an advanced destroyer. This will tilt the regional balance of power at sea in its favor and put it in a stronger position to enforce its sovereignty claims over Taiwan and in the South and […]
Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping (centre) has appeared in public for the first time in two weeks. Xi, who is expected to become China’s next leader, attended an event on Saturday to mark national science day, Xinhua news agency reported.
Some of China‘s most respected public intellectuals are warning that society and economy are being held hostage to the wealth-maximizing requirements of the political elite. These warnings echo privately in business circles, too, where entrepreneurs continue to be enthralled by the prospects of short-term profits but increasingly alarmed about their personal and financial security. Officials in developed […]
NEW YORK — Eleven years ago today, some two dozen Japanese citizens were among the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center. The date is now immortalized as “9/11,” and its aftermath has changed the world in countless ways. With the benefit of hindsight, the world may well […]
…the rapidly developing China-DPRK economic relations have certain problems that need to be solved. Pyongyang has a trade deficit with Beijing and does not have enough foreign exchange reserves. Besides, its economy is anemic and has entered a vicious circle. The imbalance in China-DPRK trade is not only an impediment to DPRK’s development, but also has […]
Questions do linger, and not only about Mr Xi’s health. That in itself is of course a matter of great import. He is currently China’s vice president, looks a bullish 59 years old, and has been groomed as the man who in coming months will replace Hu Jintao, the outgoing president and Communist Party chief, […]
The strange disappearance from public view of China’s presumptive new leader is turning a year that was supposed to showcase the Communist Party’s stability into something of an annus horribilis. Over the past week, the new leader, Xi Jinping, has missed at least three scheduled meetings with foreign dignitaries, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last Wednesday […]
“GOING OUT” is the name China calls its strategy to increase outward foreign direct investment (ODI—ie, not the FDI coming in), first proposed in 1999 and implemented in earnest five years later. From 2004 to 2011, China’s ODI grew from $5.5 billion to over $65 billion a year, and it is expected to reach $150 billion by […]
looking beyond borders 