One of my children is from an orphanage where the director, a government official, has created a nice little business in orphan homecomings, which include a lavish meal, hugs from the caregivers, and a shower of gifts for the returning child. The quid pro quo is: the parent makes a large cash donation.
Panel discussion with Li Cheng, Kenneth Lieberthal and Ambassador Stapleton Roy
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The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing a society at the local, national and global level.
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For many years, Western leaders have couched the argument for greater political openness and democratization in China in moral terms, citing the universality of both human rights and the aspirations for freedom and independence. In May, defending her decision to help the Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, Secretary Hillary Clinton told Chinese leaders, ”We continue to look to China to meet its international obligations to protect universal human rights and fundamental freedoms.” But even Western-educated intellectual elites in China don't think that this would benefit them or their country; Chinese leaders, schooled in the ideology of Marxism and Leninism, believe it even less.
Speech on the Chinese Internet, it seems, is beginning to thaw once more following the country’s leadership transition. After months of speculation, new Chinese leader Xi Jinping was announced on November 16 at the close of the 18th Party Congress, which accompanied a slowdown in the country’s Internet and the silencing of certain dissident voices. Now, Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, is coming alive again with discussion about China’s future.
Mo Yan had a tuxedo made for the December 10 prize gala in Stockholm and is studying the waltz, in case he's invited to dance.
China is visibly evolving toward liberal republican governance. Ten years, rather than life, tenure for its leaders is a major step.
Government broadcaster CCTV saw bids for 2013 prime-time ad sales jump 11% from this year, driven mostly by local marketers.
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President Barack Obama’s visit to Yangon (also known as Rangoon) today shines a spotlight on a story that has already captured the world’s attention: namely, the remarkable political transformation that has been underway over the past year in Myanmar. Looming large in the background of the conversations he had with Myanmar’s President Thein Sein and with democracy icon Aung Sang Suu Kyi about developing the country’s economy and bolstering its steps toward democracy and the protection of human rights, is presence of Myanmar’s influential neighbor, China.
