Reports

08.18.15

The Politburo’s Predicament

Freedom House
Drawing on an analysis of hundreds of official documents, censorship directives, and human rights reports, as well as some 30 expert interviews, the study finds that the overall degree of repression has increased under the new leadership. Of 17...

Conversation

08.18.15

How Should the U.S. Conduct the Xi Jinping State Visit?

Evan A. Feigenbaum, Arthur Waldron & more
As tensions increase between China and the United States over the value of the yuan, human rights violations, alleged cyber attacks, and disputed maritime territories, among other issues, how should the Obama administration conduct the upcoming...

China: The Superpower of Mr. Xi

Roderick MacFarquhar from New York Review of Books
In the almost one-hundred-year existence of the Chinese Communist Party (C.C.P.), its current general secretary, Xi Jinping, is only the second leader clearly chosen by his peers. The first was Mao Zedong. Both men beat out the competition, and thus...

Two Way Street

08.10.15

A Response to ‘China’s Foreign Policy Isn’t Transparent? You’ve Got to Be Kidding’

Susan Shirk from Two Way Street
I’m pleased that my article on the lack of transparency in China’s political system has stimulated this intellectually interesting commentary from Chu Yin. Chu elaborates my argument that China’s leaders keep the policy process secret because they...

China’s Liberal Academics Fear Growing Censorship

Tom Phillips
Guardian
“It is getting worse,” said Qiao, 45, whose public advocacy of western-style democracy and civil rights made him a thorn in the government’s side. “Since [Xi] came to power the government has placed tighter controls on ideological research and...

The Singapore Lesson China Missed

Michael Schuman
Wall Street Journal
It’s impossible to understand Singapore’s success without recognizing the importance of state constraint. Since Mr. Xi acknowledges no such limits, he will have a hard time achieving Singapore’s results.

Conversation

08.05.15

Should the U.S. Extradite Chinese Wanted by Beijing?

Jerome A. Cohen, Chen Weihua & more
This week, The New York Times reported that Chinese officials have asked the U.S. government to help in apprehending Ling Wancheng, a wealthy Chinese business man and the brother of one of the highest-level officials to have been targeted in Xi...

Guo Boxiong Expelled From Chinese Communist Party in Bid to Reform Military

Philip Wen
Sydney Morning Herald
The military has been a core focus of President Xi Jinping's campaign against official corruption.

China’s Un-separation of Powers

Christopher K. Johnson and Scott Kennedy
Foreign Affairs
U.S. industry has figured out how to pull the levers of power in China but also points to a substantial change in how China is governed. In the past, there was at least some separation between party and government roles, but it seems that the line...

Confucius Says, Xi Does

Economist
Since he came to power in 2012, Mr Xi has sought to elevate Confucius—whom Mao vilified—as the grand progenitor of Chinese culture.

Xi Turns Back the Clock on Women’s Rights in China

Andrew Browne
Wall Street Journal
Although it is unthinkable today, two decades ago 30,000 women from around the world converged outside Beijing to promote a host of social and political causes.

Conversation

07.21.15

Is China’s Reform Era Over and, If So, What’s Next?

Carl Minzner, Jeremy L. Wallace & more
Fordham Law School professor and regular ChinaFile contributor Carl Minzner says we've arrived at “China After the Reform Era,” a development that’s “not entirely bad” but also has a “dark side.” Minzner’s conclusions, excerpted below, come...

Understanding Xi Jinping’s ‘Key Minority’

Lu Yiyi
Wall Street Journal
Xi’s renewed attention to the performance of county leaders shows that he is relying on local officials to play a pivotal role in implementing his program.

Xi Warns China Military Amid Anti-Corruption Purge

Charles Clover
Financial Times
Xi delivered the stern message to the home unit of Xu Caihou, formerly one of China’s highest ranking generals, arrested last year for bribery scandal.

The Real Risk Behind China’s Stock-Market Drama

Evan Osnos
New Yorker
More recently, the Party has offered annual targets for economic growth that almost always bear out, no matter what sort of creative policy, or accounting, steps are required

Features

06.16.15

Does Xi Jinping Represent a Return to the Mao Era?

Andrew G. Walder, Roderick MacFarquhar & more
Following is an edited transcript of a live event hosted at Asia Society New York on May 21, 2015, “ChinaFile Presents: Does Xi Jinping Represent a Return to the Politics of the Mao Era?” The evening convened the scholars Roderick MacFarquhar and...

China Military Says Two More top Officers Probed for Graft

Reuters
Serving and retired Chinese military officers have said military graft is so pervasive it could undermine China's ability to wage war.

Breaking Beijing?

Lynette H. Ong
Foreign Affairs
The government's harsh crackdown could crack the regime.

Conversation

06.06.15

Should the U.S. Change its China Policy and How?

Hugh White , Mary Kay Magistad & more
The past several months have seen a growing chorus of calls for the U.S. to take stock of its policy toward China. Some prominent voices have called for greater efforts by the U.S. and China to forge “a substantive sense of common purpose,” while...

Q&A—Willy Wo-Lap Lam on ‘Chinese Politics in the Era of Xi Jinping’

New York Times
Xi’s reversal of guiding principles guiding Chinese politics post-Mao signals “the closing of the Chinese mind.”

Two Way Street

05.28.15

What China’s Lack of Transparency Means for U.S. Policy

Susan Shirk from Two Way Street
I am a political scientist and former diplomat who has studied China for more than forty years, and yet I still can’t answer some of my students’ most basic questions about China’s policy-making process. Where—in which institutional arena and at...

Media

05.26.15

Weighing Mao’s Legacy in China Today

Roderick MacFarquhar, Susan Shirk & more
At the May 21 Asia Society event ChinaFile Presents: Does Xi Jinping Represent a Return to the Politics of the Mao Era?, a discussion of author Andrew Walder’s new book, China Under Mao: A Revolution Derailed, sparked a lively debate about the...

Why the U.S. Needs to Listen to China

Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Robert E. Rubin
Atlantic
And why China needs to listen to the U.S. The importance of the mutual economic criticisms between two major world powers.

Despite Tension, Xi says U.S.-China Relations are Stable

David Brunnstrom
Reuters
John Kerry's trip has been dominated by security concerns about Beijing’s maritime ambitions in the So China Sea.

Toward a Free and Democratic China

Dan Blumenthal and William Inboden
Weekly Standard
 Overhauling U.S. strategy in Asia.

Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping Aim to Shelve Rifts Amid Economic Courtship

Ellen Barry and Chris Buckley
New York Times
Indian and Chinese officials are promoting Modi’s three-day visit as a business trip filled out with displays of good will.

Two Way Street

05.12.15

Share and Be Nice

Orville Schell from Two Way Street
Having followed the progress of the People’s Republic of China for more than half a century, it is disquieting to now find the atmosphere between Americans and Chinese so stubbornly cool. Indeed, in certain key ways there was a greater sense of...

Two Way Street

05.12.15

We Need to Stay Coolheaded

Zhu Feng from Two Way Street
In recent years, a noticeable change has occurred in China-U.S. relations. The “problem areas” where the two countries tend to clash are increasing in both number and scope, and there has been a greater degree of hostility in judgments about the...

Caixin Media

05.12.15

The Urgency of Continuing with Reform

Concern about the middle-income trap has grabbed public attention again. The minister of finance, Lou Jiwei, recently said at Tsinghua University that China had a “50-50 chance” of sliding into it in the next five to 10 years. However, many...

The Sleeper Issue of 2016 Is China

Aaron L. Friedberg
Politico
Why are we so worried about the Islamic State when Beijing is the real challenge? 

China, Russia Prepare $2 Billion Agricultural Investment Fund

Chuin-Wei Yap
Wall Street Journal
The fund will develop agricultural projects in the two countries and set up a free-trade zone between their key farming belts.

As Russia Remembers War in Europe, Guest of Honor Is From China

Jane Perlez
New York Times
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is an imperfect symbol of the wartime past and an uncertain one for Russia’s future.

The Urgency of Continuing with Reform

Hu Shuli
The best way to side step the much-discussed middle-income trap is to forge ahead with changes to the growth model.

Caixin Media

05.05.15

A Byronic Hero for China’s Supremo

A little known vignette about Xi Jinping’s fondness for Song Jiang, a fictional hero in the 14th century classic novel The Water Margin, gives a peek into the private thoughts of China’s most powerful man. For someone born with a red spoon in his...

The Battle for Taiwan’s Soul: The 2016 Presidential Election

Jonathan Sullivan
National Interest
Xi Jinping and Kuomintang leader Eric Chu’s summit Monday is the first between respective party leaders since 2009.

Q. and A.: Francis Fukuyama on China's Political Development

New York Times
Stanford historian argues an effective political system has to balance state capacity against rule of law and democracy.

Forced Disappearances, Brutality, and Communist China’s Politics of Fear

Vice News
Low-ranking officials are in a state of continual fear as their colleagues vanish around them.

Wang Jianlin, a Billionaire at the Intersection of Business and Power in China -

Michael Forsythe
New York Times
Wang tends to present himself as the pragmatic face of big business in China.

China, Africa, and the PRC’s Massive New Development Bank

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
Fifty-seven countries, including two from Africa, are among the founding members of China’s new development bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). While the new bank’s primary objective will be to develop infrastructure projects in...

China Buzzing Over President's First ‘Selfie’

Kerry Allen
BBC
The photo was posted by Fadli Zon of the Great Indonesia Movement Party from the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta.

China’s Big Plunge in Pakistan

The Editorial Board
New York Times
 If China can advance a stable Pakistan through development programs, the whole region would benefit.

Xi Jinping of China and Shinzo Abe of Japan Meet Amid Slight Thaw in Ties

Jane Perlez
New York Times
The meeting signaled a continued slight warming in otherwise frosty relations between Asia’s two top economies.

Shinzo Abe and Japan’s History

New York Times
But Japan cannot credibly help the U.S. to counter China in Asia if it seeks to repudiate criticism of its past.

China Defines Overall National Security Outlook in Draft Law

Xinhua
Economic security is the basis of national security, and military, cultural, as well as social security are safeguarding measures.

Media

04.14.15

Henry Paulson: ‘Dealing with China’

Eric Fish from Asia Blog
Speaking at Asia Society New York on April 13 with New Yorker correspondent Evan Osnos, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson explained that it’s impossible to predict the timing or magnitude of a financial crisis, but any country with...

Chinese Dreams and the African Renaissance

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
Leaders in both China and Africa have articulated new visions for their respective regions that project a strong sense of confidence, renewal, and a break from once-dominant Western ideologies. In both cases, argues East is Read blogger Mothusi...

Born Red

New Yorker
How Xi Jinping, an unremarkable provincial administrator, became China’s most authoritarian leader since Mao.

New App Collects Xi’s Wisdom

Xinhua
The free app makes available Xi’s books including “The Governance of China.”

The Politics of Banning Ivory in China

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
In February 2015, China announced a one-year ban on ivory imports. While many conservation groups such as the Environmental Investigation Agency denounced Beijing’s policy as “ineffective,” the San Francisco-based group WildAid said the ban is an...

Xi Jinping Forever

Willy Lam
Foreign Policy
Is China’s increasingly powerful president angling to break tradition and extend his rule indefinitely?

Reports

04.01.15

U.S.-China 21: The Future of U.S.-China Relations Under Xi Jinping

Kevin Rudd
Harvard University
We are, therefore, seeing the emergence of an asymmetric world in which the fulcrums of economic and military power are no longer co-located, but, in fact, are beginning to diverge significantly. Political power, through the agency of foreign policy...

How China Plans to Shape New Asian Order

Charles Hutzler
Wall Street Journal
At the center of these efforts is the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and plans for pan-Asian infrastructure .

Full Text of Chinese President’s Speech at Boao Forum for Asia

Xinhua
Xi's speech, entitled, "Towards a Community of Common Destiny and A New Future for Asia"

The Devil, or Mr Wang

Economist
China’s second most powerful leader is admired and feared. 

Singapore Former PM Meets with Chinese Leaders

People’s Daily Online
Pepople's Daily photo archive of the late Lee Kwan Yew's meetings with five of China's top leaders.

China, Japan Start First Security Talks in Four Years

Kiyoshi Takenaka
Reuters
Step aimed at thawing ties plagued by the legacy of Japan’s wartime aggression and a territorial dispute. 

Party Investigates CNPC Executive Once Seen as Company’s Next Leader

Liao Yongyuan, who oversaw gas pipeline project crossing country, becomes target of inquiry by party graft-buster.

Xi Meets with Kissinger, Calls for More Trust Between China, U.S.

Xinhua
Kissinger hailed the ongoing historic reform in China.

Qiu He, top Yunnan Official, Ousted for Corrupt Land Deals

East by Southeast
Qiu was the catalyst for a swath of controversial infrastructure projects, including a new international airport finished in 2012. 

Q. and A.: David Shambaugh on the Risks to Chinese Communist Rule

Chris Buckley
New York Times
Shambaugh’s recent essay argued that the “endgame of Chinese communist rule has now begun.”