Generational Change on Hold in China’s Leadership Transition

By Wang Xiangwei on November 4, 2012

If this list turns out to be true, it signals that a more meaningful generational transition is most likely to take place at the 19th congress in 2017, when more youthful officials would be elected into the Standing Committee.

It also sends a clear message that the authorities have chosen stability and continuity over a new breed of officials, including Guangdong party secretary Wang Yang and Li Yuanchao, the powerful head of the party's Organisation Department responsible for personnel appointments. Wang, 57, and Li, 62, until recently strong contenders for top party posts, have seen their chances dimmed largely because of age, ironically. It is believed both of them are still deemed relatively young and could still make it to the Standing Committee in the 2017 reshuffle. More importantly, they are well known for their reformist outlook.

Politics
Leadership Transition, 18th Party Congress, Xi Jinping

The Problem with the Pivot

By Robert Ross on November 4, 2012

Ever since the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping opened up his country’s economy in the late 1970s, China has managed to grow in power, wealth, and military might while still maintaining cooperative and friendly relations with most of the world. Until a few years ago, that is, when Beijing seemed to change tack, behaving in a way that alienated its neighbors and aroused suspicion abroad. In December 2009, for example, Beijing’s resistance to compromise at the UN Climate Change Conference angered European countries and the United States. Then, following the January 2010 sale of U.S. arms to Taiwan, the Chinese government suspended a senior U.S.-Chinese security dialogue for the first time and announced unprecedented sanctions against U.S. companies with ties to Taiwan (although it is not clear that the sanctions caused meaningful damage). In July of that year, Beijing angrily protested plans for U.S.–South Korean naval exercises in the Yellow Sea, and in September, it excoriated Japan for detaining the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that had rammed a Japanese coast guard ship in disputed waters. To cap off this series of unsettling episodes, Beijing voiced excessive hostility toward democratic countries and imposed economic sanctions on Norway after the Nobel Prize committee awarded the Chinese democracy activist Liu Xiaobo the Peace Prize in October. In a few short months, China had managed to undo much of what it had gained through years of talk about its “peaceful rise.”

Politics
Foreign Policy, U.S.-China Relations

Online Poll Shows Overwhelming Support For End to China’s One-Child Policy

By David Wertime on November 2, 2012

Out of 30,006 votes cast, 71.7% support abrogating the one-child policy, and only 28.3% want to keep it. The poll was conducted after a study by the China Development Research Foundation emerged, recommending an abolition of the current one-child policy by 2015 to allow every couple to have two children. 

Health, Law, Society
Family Planning, Polls, One-Child Policy

From Toys to TV News, Jittery Beijing Clamps Down

By Andrew Jacobs on November 2, 2012

As China's capital steels itself for the 18th Party Congress, the government is cracking down on balloons, homing pigeons, Ping-Pong balls and remote-control toy airplanes, anything that could potentially carry protest messages and mar the meticulously choreographed political spectacle.

Media, Politics, Urban Life
18th Party Congress, Censorship

Chinese Movie Mogul Promises New Party Leaders Will Open Market to Hollywood

By Jonathan Landreth on November 2, 2012

A wise old cartoon turtle in Kung Fu Panda advises Po, the portly black and white star of the 2004 DreamWorks Animation blockbuster film, not to fret about honing his fighting skills, but rather to focus on the moment and do his best.

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow’s a mystery but today is a gift—that’s why it’s called the present,” says the turtle.

18 Reforms for the Party’s 18th Congress

China’s leadership handover comes at a critical moment for society and the economy, and changes are in order

on November 2, 2012

China’s leadership handover comes at a critical moment for society and the economy, and changes are in order.

The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party this month comes at a critical time described by economist Wu Jinglian as “a tipping point for China’s economic and social conflicts.” Whether the new government makes the right decisions and restarts the reform process will determine whether China enjoys another decade of stable growth.