ChinaFile Recommends
01.23.17More Babies in China Worth Celebrating—but Mind the Data
Wall Street Journal
Official data shows women had the most children since 2000 in 2016
ChinaFile Recommends
01.23.17China Swings back at Golf, Shutting down 111 Courses
Associated Press
China has launched a renewed crackdown on golf, closing 111 courses in an effort to conserve water and land, and telling members of the ruling Communist Party to stay off the links.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.20.17China’s Economy Grows Strongly, Yet Central Bank Eases Policy
New York Times
China’s economy firmly hit its growth target last year, but this is China, where figures are sometimes doubted and where economists look for signs of strain underneath the numbers.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.20.17Asian Shares Mixed as Investors Eye Trump’s Inauguration
CNBC
Asian markets were a mixed bag on Friday after China’s latest set of economic data suggest the economy is recovering, even as risk sentiment sours ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration
ChinaFile Recommends
01.20.17Can Donald Trump Break Beijing’s ‘One China’ Obsession?
South China Morning Post
Through force and diplomacy, many renowned figures have tried to divide the country, and all have failed. Still, the new U.S. president seems to want the issue back on the table and, if so, he has a steep, historic hill to climb
ChinaFile Recommends
01.20.17Punches, Kicks and the ‘Dangling Chair’: Detainee Tells of Torture in China
New York Times
Perched unsteadily on a stack of plastic stools in an isolated room, Xie Yang, a Chinese lawyer, was encircled day and night by interrogators
ChinaFile Recommends
01.20.17Here’s How China Will Test Trump With North Korean Nukes
Daily Beast
China is demanding South Korea not defend itself from North Korean missiles and nuclear weapons, which Beijing has helped Pyongyang develop
ChinaFile Recommends
01.20.17How China’s Liberals Are Feeling the Trump Effect
Washington Post
With the presidential election of Donald Trump, a man whose grasp of both democratic concepts and ethical norms is questionable, we have been forced to ask some hard new questions
ChinaFile Recommends
01.20.17ChinaFile Recommends
01.20.17Trump Inauguration: Taiwan Delegation Could ‘Disturb Sino-U.S. Relations’
Guardian
Taiwanese delegation will attend new president’s swearing-in, prompting Beijing to warn it could ‘disturb or undermine Sino-U.S. relations’
Sinica Podcast
01.19.17The State of Journalism in China—Ed Wong’s Exit Interview
from Sinica Podcast
Edward Wong became a reporter for The New York Times in 1999. He covered the Iraq war from Baghdad from 2003 to 2007, and then moved to Beijing in 2008. He has written about a wide range of subjects in China for the Times, and became its Beijing...
Media
01.19.17The U.S. Media’s Unfortunate Obsession with One Beijing Rag
On January 11, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson raised eyebrows in Washington when he said, “We’re going to have to send China a clear signal that first the...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.19.17U.S. Commerce Nominee Ross Calls China ‘Most Protectionist’ Country
Reuters
Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for commerce secretary, voiced sharp criticism of China’s trade practices on Wednesday
ChinaFile Recommends
01.19.17China Is America’s “Vendor,” and Needs to Treat Its Biggest Customer Better, Trump’s Commerce Pick Says
Quartz
China loomed large in the US senate’s confirmation hearing today of Wilbur Ross for commerce secretary.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.19.17Donald Trump and China’s Year of the Hawk
Politico
A brash new U.S. president is on a collision course with a Chinese leader bent on consolidating power.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.19.17In China, Pollution Fears Are Both Literal and Metaphorical
NPR
Last month, as China encountered some of its worst pollution yet, artists in Chengdu did something bold: They put smog-filtering cotton masks over the faces of statues representing ordinary urbanites that dot a centrally located shopping street.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.19.17China Builds World’s Biggest Solar Farm in Journey to Become Green Superpower
Guardian
Vast plant in Qinghai province is part of China’s determination to transform itself from climate change villain to a green energy colossus
The China Africa Project
01.19.17How Donald Trump Could Give China a Real Boost in Africa
The election of Donald Trump has introduced a new era of uncertainty in global politics, especially in Africa where the U.S. president-elect has said nothing about his foreign policy agenda for the continent. Not surprisingly, Trump’s unpredictable...
Viewpoint
01.19.17Do We Want to Live in China’s World?
Each weekday morning, I cross D.C.’s National Mall and pass a sign on Constitution Avenue bearing an epigram by the U.S. architect Daniel Burnham: Make No Little Plans. And every morning, these words make me think not of Burnham’s 20th century...
The NYRB China Archive
01.19.17When the Chinese Were Unspeakable
from New York Review of Books
The Xiao River rushes deep and clear out of the mountains of southern China into a narrow plain of paddies and villages. At first little more than an angry stream, it begins to meander and grow as the basin’s 63 other creeks and brooks flow into it...
Conversation
01.18.17U.S.-China Flashpoints in the Age of Trump
Over the past year, Donald Trump has vowed to “utterly destroy” ISIS, considered lifting sanctions on Russia, promised to cancel the Paris climate agreement and “dismantle” the Iran nuclear deal. But many of his most inflammatory statements are...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.18.17China’s Top Economic Official Braces for Possible Trade War
New York Times
Liu He has struggled to overcome resistance to a program of measured economic liberalization and more open markets that he argues is critical to China’s long-term economic health
ChinaFile Recommends
01.18.17First Freight Train from China to Britain Arrives in London
Reuters
The first China-to-Britain freight train arrived in London on Wednesday after a 7,500-mile journey, marking a milestone in China’s push to build commercial links across Europe and Asia.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.18.17Taiwan Carries out Drills amid Rising Fears of Chinese Invasion
Guardian
The island’s armed forces test combat readiness, amid deteriorating relations between Beijing and Taipei
ChinaFile Recommends
01.18.17An ‘Old Friend of China’ Prepares to Bridge Differences at a Fraught Time
NPR
Branstad’s relationship with China goes back to 1985, when he was in his first term as governor and a young agricultural official from Hebei Province named Xi Jinping visited Iowa.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.18.17The Chinese Government Finally Admitted That Its Economic Data Was Made Up
Quartz
For many who have long believed that China’s economic growth figures seemed too good—and tidy—to be true, they now have official confirmation of that skepticism.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.17.17In Davos, Xi Makes Case for Chinese Leadership Role
Reuters
Chinese President Xi Jinping offered a vigorous defense of free trade at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday in a speech that underscored Beijing’s desire to play a greater global role
ChinaFile Recommends
01.17.17New U.S.-China Rivalry Risks Lethal Confrontation
Wall Street Journal
Provocations by President-elect Trump over trade and territory could escalate into armed conflict
ChinaFile Recommends
01.17.17China’s Oil Collapse Is Unintentionally Helping OPEC
Bloomberg
OPEC’s campaign to prop up oil prices is getting unlikely support from its biggest customer.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.17.17Welcome to an Emerging Asia: India and China Stop Feigning Friendship while Russia Plays All Sides
Quartz
After a few timid signs of warming, Sino-Indian relations seem to be headed for the freezer.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.17.17Trump Warming to Reality of Climate Change, Says Senior Chinese Official
Guardian
Beijing’s chief climate negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, talks down fears that joint leadership shown by China and the US will be reversed under new president
ChinaFile Recommends
01.15.17One China Policy “Nonnegotiable,” China Tells US
Xinhua
China on Saturday told the United States that one China policy is the political foundation of bilateral ties and “is nonnegotiable.”
ChinaFile Recommends
01.15.17China’s Xi Set for Star Turn at Davos Gathering
Financial Times
President aims to show he is one of the few responsible adults left on the global stage
ChinaFile Recommends
01.13.17China Overseas Investment Spree Set to Run Out of Steam
Wall Street Journal
A government think tank predicts China’s direct investment overseas, after years of robust gains, is likely to decline in 2017
Sinica Podcast
01.13.17Can the Vatican and China Get Along?
from Sinica Podcast
Ian Johnson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has lived in Beijing and Taiwan for more than half of the past 30 years, writing for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and other publications. He has...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.13.17Ambassador to China Shares Lessons Learned with the Next Administration
NPR
Democrat Max Baucus, the U.S. ambassador to China since 2014, is preparing to hand over the post to his successor. He discusses the future of the U.S.-China relationship.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.13.17South China Sea: China Media Warn US over ‘Confrontation’
BBC
Blocking China from islands it has built in contested waters would lead to “devastating confrontation,” Chinese state media have warned.
The NYRB China Archive
01.13.17China’s Hidden Massacres: An Interview with Tan Hecheng
from New York Review of Books
Tan Hecheng might seem an unlikely person to expose one of the most shocking crimes of the Chinese Communist Party. A congenial 67-year-old who spent most of his life in southern Hunan province away from the seats of power, Tan is no dissident. In...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.12.17Tillerson Channels Reagan on South China Sea
Lawfare Blog
Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson said that perhaps the United States should deny China access to its artificial islands in the South China Sea.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.12.17Trump Nominee’s Proposal to Block China From Islands Sets Off Alarms
Wall Street Journal
If carried out, Tillerson’s proposal to bar Beijing from some South China Sea islands would likely trigger military battle, experts say
ChinaFile Recommends
01.12.17China Launches New Electronic Intelligence Naval Ship
CNBC
China’s Navy has launched a new electronic reconnaissance ship as Beijing’s new assertiveness to territorial claims in the South China Sea fuels tensions.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.12.17Japan And China Are Competing To Win Over The Philippines
Forbes
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is pushing away the United States in favor of its geopolitical rival China. But the man in office still likes Japan.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.12.17Obama Takes Parting Shot at China with WTO Aluminium Case
Financial Times
U.S. is challenging Beijing’s financing of its industries with low-cost loans
ChinaFile Recommends
01.12.17China Banks Extend Record 12.65 Trillion Yuan in Loans in 2016 as Debt Worries Mount
Reuters
China’s banks extended a record 12.56 trillion yuan ($1.82 trillion) of loans in 2016 as the government encouraged more credit-fueled stimulus to meet its economic growth target
ChinaFile Recommends
01.12.17Hong Kong Human Rights Situation ‘Worst Since Handover to China’
Guardian
Amnesty International report says rule of law, freedom of speech, and trust in government all deteriorated in 2016
ChinaFile Recommends
01.12.17China Wants to Be a Climate Change Watchdog, but Can It Lead by Example?
New York Times
Like some other nations, China, the world’s biggest polluter, has refused to accept international monitoring of its emissions and says it will provide data to outside observers.
Books
01.11.17Taiwan’s China Dilemma
China and Taiwan share one of the world’s most complex international relationships. Although similar cultures and economic interests have promoted an explosion of economic ties between them since the late 1980s, these ties have not led to an improved political relationship, let alone progress toward the unification that both governments once claimed to seek. In addition, Taiwan’s recent Sunflower Movement succeeded in obstructing deeper economic ties with China. Why has Taiwan’s policy toward China been so inconsistent?Taiwan’s China Dilemma explains the divergence between the development of economic and political relations across the Taiwan Strait through the interplay of national identity and economic interests. Using primary sources, opinion surveys, and interviews with Taiwanese opinion leaders, Syaru Shirley Lin paints a vivid picture of one of the most unsettled and dangerous relationships in the contemporary world, and illustrates the growing backlash against economic liberalization and regional economic integration around the world. —Stanford University Press{chop}
ChinaFile Recommends
01.11.17Taiwan Scrambles Jets, Navy as China Aircraft Carrier Enters Taiwan Strait
Reuters
Taiwan scrambled jets and navy ships on Wednesday as a group of Chinese warships, led by its sole aircraft carrier, sailed through the Taiwan Strait
ChinaFile Recommends
01.11.17China Delegation Reportedly Open to Meeting Trump’s Team at Davos
CNBC
China’s President Xi Jinping’s delegation to the World Economic Forum to be held in Davos next week is open to a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump’s team
ChinaFile Recommends
01.11.17China, Fanning Patriotism, Adds Six Years to War with Japan in History Books
New York Times
For generations, the “Eight-Year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression” has been ingrained in the minds of Chinese schoolchildren. Now the war is getting a new name, and an extended time frame.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.11.17China’s Money, China’s Blue Helmets for Africa
Deutsche Welle
It’s not just about raw materials anymore. China’s expanding influence in Africa poses risks to European interests, but it offers opportunities as well.
The China Africa Project
01.10.172016 China-Africa Year in Review
After years of relatively trouble-free development, 2016 marked a turning point in the China-Africa relationship, amid turbulent changes in the global economic and political order. China increased its deployment of combat troops to the continent,...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.09.17Against China’s Objections, Ted Cruz and Texas Governor Meet with Taiwanese President
Washington Post
Against the objections of Chinese officials, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in Texas on Sunday during her much-scrutinized overseas trip.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.09.17China Battles to Control Growing Online Nationalism
Financial Times
When Taiwan last year elected a president eager to reduce the island’s reliance on China, tens of thousands of Chinese netizens attacked Taiwanese websites in a co-ordinated action that was as much a surprise to Beijing as it was to its targets...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.09.17China’s New Silk Road Is Getting Muddy
Foreign Policy
With the future of U.S.-China relations an open question for the incoming Donald Trump administration, many have focused on whether the president-elect’s promise to withdraw from negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will enhance...
Viewpoint
01.06.17No, Hong Kong’s Democracy Movement Is Not Anti-Mainland
In a November 29 essay, “The Anti-Mainland Bigotry of Hong Kong’s Democracy Movement,” published in Foreign Policy, Taisu Zhang tries to make the case that Beijing’s hardline attitude toward Hong Kong is traceable to what he calls the “bigotry of...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.06.17Cambodia Wants China as Its Neighborhood Bully
Foreign Policy
In the closing months of 2016, all of Southeast Asia seemed to be pivoting toward China. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was hailed as a “visionary leader” by fellow Malaysian politicians for “tilting to China.”
ChinaFile Recommends
01.06.17Taiwan Tries to Keep Central American Allies Away from China
Financial Times
Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen heads to four Central American countries this weekend in an effort to stop more of the self-governing island’s remaining diplomatic allies defecting to China.
China in the World Podcast
01.06.17The Unpredictability of U.S.-China Relations Under Trump
from Carnegie China
As U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration approaches, uncertainty looms over the future of U.S.-China policy. In part one of this two-part podcast, Paul Haenle speaks with Chen Dingding, an International Relations professor at Jinan...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.05.17China, Seeking to Stop Weakening of Currency, Issues Restrictions
New York Times
China’s financial regulators appear to have grown increasingly concerned in recent weeks about the pace of the renminbi’s depreciation