On China’s border with Kazakhstan, a new Silk Road city has sprung up with such speed that Google Earth has scarcely begun to record the high-rises that now float on a winter mist above the steppe…Khorgos has become China’s gateway to Central Asia, and all the way to Europe. Read Here – The Economist
The coronavirus outbreak that exploded three weeks ago in the central Chinese city of Wuhan has prompted the most severe government actions in three decades. Cities are closed down, transport links broken, and tens of millions of people effectively quarantined. At a time when the Party and the leadership claim supremacy over every aspect of […]
The first decade of the 21st century has seen the Chinese military (People’s Liberation Army or PLA) undergo a number of major changes, which many observers around the world have kept a keen eye on. Indeed, among the world’s major military forces, the breadth and speed with which the PLA and the Chinese military industry […]
Like Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Xi’s copycat version has an even more ambitious goal. It is to extinguish faith in God altogether, replacing it with faith in the Chinese Communist Party and the Party’s own “small-g” god of the moment, who is Xi Jinping himself. And it perversely intends to enlist China’s churches, mosques, shrines and […]
Compared to other political challenges that have drawn large amounts of international criticism over the past two years, ranging from the 2018 Constitutional Amendments to the Xinjiang and Hong Kong crises, the current situation constitutes a much more serious threat to the Party-state’s domestic legitimacy. Read Here – China File
When China’s leaders finally declare victory against the outbreak of the new and deadly coronavirus, they will undoubtedly credit the Communist Party of China’s leadership. But the truth is just the opposite: the party is again responsible for this calamity. Read Here – Project Syndicate
Beijing’s decision to quarantine Wuhan in central China to try to contain a deadly disease outbreak presents unprecedented challenges as it is dealing with a city about five times the size of London. The central government imposed the lockdown to stop the spread of a newly identified coronavirus that has killed 17 people in the […]
The world’s great rising power, the People’s Republic of China, is headed for a demographic crisis. Like the United States and most developed countries, China has a birthrate that is well below replacement level. Unlike most developed countries, China is growing old without first having grown rich. Read Here – The New York Times
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen won a second term on Saturday with a victory over Han Kuo-yu, in an election that had been cast as a referendum on the island’s approach to Beijing. Tsai, from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), had been a hot favourite to see off the challenges of Han, from the mainland-friendly Kuomintang […]
Trade disputes with the US, concerns about Chinese interference in Hong Kong, and ethnic tensions in Xinjiang all preceded Xi Jinping’s rise to power in late 2012. Their escalation in the last year is a direct result of China’s shift to authoritarianism under Xi. Read Here – Project Syndicate
looking beyond borders 