Is China Building Too Many Airports?

on June 27, 2017

Over the next three years, local authorities in China are planning to build more than 900 airports for general aviation—the segment of the industry that includes crop dusting and tourism. The figure is nearly double the central government’s goal of “more than 500” over the period.

A news report has warned that’s just too many airports.

In May 2016, the State Council, China’s cabinet, announced that the country wanted to construct more than 500 general aviation airports to boost the size of the industry to over 1 trillion yuan (U.S.$146 billion).

Tycoon’s Claims Reverberate in China Despite Censorship and Thin Evidence

By Chris Buckley on June 27, 2017

Since taking office, President Xi Jinping has cultivated an aura of austere probity and stern control. But now a garrulous billionaire living in a lavish apartment in Manhattan, taunting the authorities beyond the easy grasp of Chinese security forces, has muddied that image.

Media, Politics, Society
Censorship, Dissidents and Activists

China’s Premier, Li Keqiang, Praises Free Trade, in Contrast to Trump

By Keith Bradsher on June 27, 2017

Premier Li Keqiang of China reaffirmed on Tuesday his country’s desire to be seen as the world’s new leader in globalization and free trade, but he offered no specifics on how China might lower its own trade barriers, which are among the steepest of any large country.

Economy, Politics
Donald Trump, Li Keqiang, Free Trade, Protectionism

Why Are So Many Tibetans Moving to Chinese Cities?

By Gerald Roche, Ben Hillman & more on June 26, 2017

China’s Tibetan areas have been troubled by unrest since 2008, when protests swept the plateau, followed by a series of self-immolations which continue to this day. The Chinese state, as part of its arsenal of responses, has intensified urbanization, hoping that economic development and cultural contact will lead to assimilation and stability. However, cities are also becoming sites of resistance to assimilation and focal points of unrest, as well as arenas for internal power struggles about what it means to be Tibetan in contemporary China.