There are two great “what if” questions in modern Chinese history. The first was in 1949, which is when China fell to the Communists. What if the Nationalists had been more effective on the battlefield? What if the United States had given them more support? What if Chiang Kai-Shek had won the civil war instead […]
The crusty shell of Russia’s Communist Party may be associated with pensioners, but the movement is undergoing a face-lift. Read Here – The Moscow Times
Several of Vietnam’s state-controlled news outlets have in recent days recalled the country’s 1979 border war with China, until now a strictly taboo topic. Such a recollection may signal that the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam has finally eased censorship of the short-lived but bloody military conflict. Read Here – The National Interest
Anyone familiar with the foreign policy rhetoric emanating from Beijing for the past three decades or more has heard talk of China’s “good neighbour policy,” its “peaceful rise” and its aspirations to contribute to a “harmonious world,” by way of “a new type of great power relations.” China pledged under Deng Xiaoping to pursue a […]
May 23rd marked the 65th anniversary of the Chinese annexation of Tibet. That was the day the “Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet” was declared in the aftermath of the Chinese invasion of October, 1950. The document was rejected by many Tibetans at the time, and has been controversial ever since. Read […]
A series of meetings over the last two weeks — especially between Maoist chief Prachanda and K.P. Sharma Oli, chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) — to bury their bitter past seems to have sent across a message that it was poor leadership that came in the way of the timely […]
Beneath a giant hammer and sickle, the elite at the top of the Communist Party assembled for the country’s annual parliament session last week, all wearing the same unofficial uniform. As they stood to listen to the county’s national anthem, the politicians stood in perfect rows, spaced a few feet apart. Each person had a white […]
Even as Xi Jinping gets ready to assume the presidency of China this month, jockeying has begun for 2017 when rising stars of the ruling Communist Party move into top leadership posts. China’s first and second generation Communist Party leaders, such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, ruled as single paramount leaders. But over the past two decades, […]
In China they are known as “princelings” — the privileged children of the revolutionary founders of the People’s Republic of China. And in the generational leadership change that just took place in Beijing, it could not have been clearer that having the right family bloodlines is among the most important attributes an ambitious cadre could possess. Of […]
China’s new leaders are poised to inherit the weakest economic growth since Deng Xiaopingthree decades ago and may need to borrow from his market-opening tool kit to avert a steeper decline. As the Communist Party prepares to anoint Vice President Xi Jinping, 59, and Vice Premier Li Keqiang, 57, next month as its so-called fifth generation in charge, data […]
looking beyond borders 