Sinica Podcast
11.10.12
Eighteenth Party Roundup
from Sinica Podcast
This week on Sinica, our hosts Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn are joined by Gady Epstein from the Economist and we turn our attention to the Eighteenth Party Congress, which officially started in Beijing earlier this week. As China’s capital...
Postcard
11.09.12
Where to, China?
The windows of buses and taxis going by Tiananmen Square have been taped shut. The paramilitary police stand at attention at all major traffic intersections—even near the old alleyway where I live some five kilometers away. Those are sure signs that...
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11.09.12Opinion: Meritocracy Versus Democracy
New York Times
Without much fanfare, Beijing has introduced significant reforms and established an elaborate system of what can be called “selection plus election.”
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11.09.12Two Rising China Leaders Say Open to Wealth Declarations
Reuters
After report on Wen Jiabao's "hidden riches," Guangdong and Shanghai party bosses said officials will eventually have to declare assets.
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11.09.12Is China Better at Picking Leaders than the U.S.?
Washington Post
The case for China is that its leaders can emphasize long-term planning and difficult decisions over short-term politics and voter-appeasement.
Books
11.09.12
Strong Society, Smart State
The rise and influence of public opinion on Chinese foreign policy reveals a remarkable evolution in authoritarian responses to social turmoil. James Reilly shows how Chinese leaders have responded to popular demands for political participation with a sophisticated strategy of tolerance, responsiveness, persuasion, and repression—a successful approach that helps explain how and why the Communist Party continues to rule China.Through a detailed examination of China's relations with Japan from 1980 to 2010, Reilly reveals the populist origins of a wave of anti-Japanese public mobilization that swept across China in the early 2000s. Popular protests, sensationalist media content, and emotional public opinion combined to impede diplomatic negotiations, interrupt economic cooperation, spur belligerent rhetoric, and reshape public debates. Facing a mounting domestic and diplomatic crisis, Chinese leaders responded with a remarkable reversal, curtailing protests and cooling public anger toward Japan. Far from being a fragile state overwhelmed by popular nationalism, market forces, or information technology, China has emerged as a robust and flexible regime that has adapted to its new environment with remarkable speed and effectiveness. Reilly's study of public opinion's influence on foreign policy extends beyond democratic states. It reveals how persuasion and responsiveness sustain Communist Party rule in China and develops a method for examining similar dynamics in different authoritarian regimes. He draws upon public opinion surveys, interviews with Chinese activists, quantitative media analysis, and internal government documents to support his findings, joining theories in international relations, social movements, and public opinion. — Columbia University Press
Viewpoint
11.09.12
Pragmatism and Patience
Hamid Bilgari, Vice Chairman of Citicorp, the strategic arm of Citigroup, is a leader in international investment banking.
Bilgari says that pragmatism and patience are the dominant qualities exhibited by cultures facing major change, such as...
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11.08.12Ex-President of China, Said to Be Ill, Appears in Beijing
New York Times
Jiang Zemin, the former Chinese president who was said to have fallen gravely ill in July, appeared at a ceremony in Beijing on Sunday, fanning speculation about his health and the role he might play in power struggles accompanying the long-planned...
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11.08.12In China, Self-Immolations Continue as Party Congress Opens
Los Angeles Times
As China launched its 18th Communist Party congress on Thursday, a record number of Tibetans immolated themselves in a stark illustration of the internal tensions facing the country's new leadership.Over a 48...
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11.08.12Party Report Suggests Old Guard is Strong
China Media Project
My preliminary conclusion: conservative forces within the Party are still very powerful. According to the line marked out by the political report to the 18th National Congress, there is very little prospect that substantive moves will be made on...
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11.08.12China Decides (Series)
Foreign Policy
The world's other superpower is having its own “election” this week. And if all goes according to plan, on Nov. 14 nine (or seven) men (and possibly one woman) will stride across the stage in Beijing’s massive Great Hall of the People as the...
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11.08.12On Way Out, China’s Leader Offers Praise for the Status Quo
New York Times
Capping 10 careful years at the helm of the Communist Party, China’s top leader is stepping into history with a series of rear-guard actions. The leader, Hu Jintao, 69, is scheduled to step down as the party’s general...
Reports
11.08.12
China 3.0
European Council on Foreign Relations
China’s once-a-decade leadership change is currently underway in Beijing. The new leaders will take power at a crucial time for China, as it enters the third stage of its development since the revolution. How they deal with the challenges ahead will...
Viewpoint
11.08.12
Who is Xi Jinping?
In an era of great change and economic uncertainty around the world, one might expect a leadership transition at the top of one of the world’s rising powers to shine a light on that country’s prospective next leaders so the public might form an...
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11.08.12China's Communist Party Congress Opens with a Warning
Christian Science Monitor
Outgoing President Hu Jintao warned that the Communist Party faces 'collapse' if it fails to clean up corruption.
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11.08.12China Prepares for Party Congress
New York Times
Hu Jintao told party-picked that China faces a period of major change and “complicated domestic and international circumstances."
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11.07.12China’s Leadership Transition: What to Look For
Atlantic
Now that the U.S. election is behind us, time to turn to the next most important political transition in years: the Chinese Communist Party's 18th Congress. Seventeen congresses have gone by and hardly anyone has paid much attention, including...
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11.07.12Unwelcome at the Party
New York Times
I don’t belong to a political party and have never felt that Communist Party meetings are any of my business. But my home is in Beijing. I am a writer, and Han Chinese. My wife, Woeser, is also a writer, and Tibetan. The other...
Viewpoint
11.07.12
Peering Inside the ‘Black Box’
Just hours after the United States voted for its next president, China, too, is preparing for a leadership change—although much less is known about that process, which begins Thursday with the start of the 18th National Congress of the Communist...
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11.06.12China’s Security Ministry Suspected Slain Businessman Was a Spy
New York Times
China’s external intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security, suspected a British businessman of being a spy before his murder last year at the hands of a senior politician’s wife, according to people with close ties to Chinese state...
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11.06.12Neil Heywood 'Was MI6 Informant'
Telegraph
Neil Heywood, the British businessman murdered in China, gave MI6 info on Bo Xilai.
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11.06.12If China Voted, It Would Be Obama in a Landside, Surveys Show
Los Angeles Times
An AFP-Ipsos poll in late September showed 63% of about 800 Chinese respondents wanted Obama.
Caixin Media
11.05.12
Scenes from a Leadership Transition
Jiang Zemin’s Lyrical MemoryCompiled by Caixin(Beijing)—A glance at off-hours correspondence between two veteran leaders has added a lighter dimension to the recent public appearances of former Politburo members in the run-up to the party’s 18th...
Viewpoint
11.05.12
The Big Enterprise
In days of yore, when a new dynasty was established in China and a new emperor was enthroned, it was known as dashi, “The Big Enterprise,” and it usually involved mass social upheaval and civil war. The latter-day version of changing...
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11.04.12CCTV Comes to America
Foreign Policy
CCTV America's coverage of China is largely scrubbed of controversy and upbeat in tone, with a heavy emphasis on business and cultural stories in places where Beijing hopes to gain influence. Reporting on topics sensitive to Beijing,...
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11.04.12The Five “Vermin” Threatening China
China Story
In Yuan Peng’s 2012 repertoire of what are now popularly known as the ‘New Black Five Categories of People’ were identified as: rights lawyers, underground religious activities, dissidents, Internet leaders and vulnerable groups
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11.04.12Generational Change on Hold in China’s Leadership Transition
South China Morning Post
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...
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11.04.12The Problem with the Pivot
Foreign Affairs
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...
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11.02.12From Toys to TV News, Jittery Beijing Clamps Down
New York Times
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...
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11.02.12U.S. Rights Official Faults China on Tibetan Suppression
New York Times
Navi Pillay says she's disturbed by reports of detentions, disappearances and the excessive use of force.
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11.02.12One-Child Policy Up for Reform in China?
Associated Press
The unpopular policy should be phased out, says a Chinese government think tank.
Media
11.02.12
Chinese Movie Mogul Promises New Party Leaders Will Open Market to Hollywood
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...
Caixin Media
11.02.12
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.The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party this month comes at a critical time described by economist Wu Jinglian as “a tipping...
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11.01.12Staying Out of Trouble Before the 18th Party Congress
As Beijing enters extreme lock-down prior to the 18th National Party Congress (十八大 or “shi ba da” in Chinese), social media users have invented a new coded reference–“Sparta”–to talk about this otherwise censored topic on Sina...
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11.01.12Silencing a Voice for Justice
New York Times
I have been recently seeking to use the rule of law to achieve social justice. This isn’t easy in a country where legal vagueness and arbitrary enforcement make advocacy a constant uphill battle. But in my career, I’ve encountered few cases as...
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10.28.12Seven Tibetan Self-Immolations Hit China in One Week
Agence France-Presse
Two Tibetans set themselves on fire protesting Beijing's hardline rule, a rights group said.
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10.26.12
Myanmar Envy
Chinese netizens’ reactions to tentative democratic reforms in neighboring Myanmar, including to the recent repeal of censorship rules for private publishers by the Southeast Asian nation’s reformist government, reflect just how closely it’s...
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10.26.12China Condemns NYTimes Wen Jiabao Wealth Story as 'Smear'
BBC
Beijing said the report that Wen's family has "controlled ... at least $2.7bn" had "ulterior motives."
Sinica Podcast
10.26.12
Party Congress Preview
from Sinica Podcast
With less than two weeks to go before the Eighteenth Party Congress, speculation on China’s upcoming leadership transition could not be more intense here in Beijing, where insiders are trading lists of potential Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC)...
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10.25.12China Paves Way for Prosecuting Disgraced Politician Bo Xilai
Reuters
China's parliament has expelled disgraced former senior politician Bo Xilai, Xinhua said, paving the way for formal criminal charges.
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10.25.12Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader
New York Times
Wen Jiabao's son, daughter, younger brother and brother-in-law have become extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership.
The NYRB China Archive
10.25.12
Who Was Mao Zedong?
from New York Review of Books
In Kashgar’s largest bazaar a few years ago, I spotted a pencil holder sporting an iconic Cultural Revolution image: Mao Zedong and Marshal Lin Biao smiling together. But Mao’s personally chosen heir apparent had been a nonperson since 1971, when he...
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10.24.12A Test Case for the Communist Party’s Commitment to Reform
Wall Street Journal
Critics say the Party can't hold power much longer if fundamental reforms are not introduced – a notion echoed by an essay in the latest issue of the CCP’s own theoretical journal, Seeking Truth.
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10.23.12China Reshuffles Top Military
Reuters
Outgoing air force commander General Xu Qiliang, 62, promoted to vice-chairman of the military's top decision-making body.
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10.23.12Better Ways to Deal with China
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Pushing China around like a bulked-up version of 1980s Japan doesn't fit a long-term U.S. objective: drawing China into the club of prosperous, rule-bound and democratic nations.
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10.23.12China Hints at Reform by Dropping Mao Wording
Reuters
Dropping Mao's name from policy statements hints that the Communist Party may move toward reform.
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10.23.12Candidates Debate Rise of China; China Debates Reform
Deal Book
China's presumptive next president, Xi Jinping, may wish his economy were the juggernaut many Americans think it is. He will inherit an economy in desperate need of reform and rebalancing. As discussed in an earlier China...
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10.22.12China media: Quiet on Communist Party Congress, gaga for U.S. election
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The two U.S. presidential candidates turned China into a political football. The "China-bashing" hasn't gone unnoticed in China media.
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10.22.12Five Debate-Worthy Facts about China
NPR
The last U.S. Presidential debate will focus on foreign policy and is sure to discuss Chinese relations.
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10.22.12China hints at move to strengthen Communist rule
Reuters
Xinhua says China's ruling Communist Party will discuss a proposal aimed at strengthening one-party rule over the next five years.
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10.21.12Many Urge China’s Next Leader to Liberalize
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After it was leaked that Xi Jinping, the man anointed to be the next Communist Party chief of China, had met in private with a well-known supporter of political liberalization, the capital’s elite began to buzz about the import of...
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10.21.12Europe and China Don't Need a Trade War: EU Trade Chief
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De Gucht says EU won't back down from fight againt unfair Chinese competition, but mutual self-interest will prevent trade war.
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10.20.12"The Revolutionary": An Unrequited Love for China
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In a new documentary on his life, Sidney Rittenberg, who once translated for Mao, refers to his jailer as both a hero and criminal.
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10.20.12China Is Wary of U.S. Candidates’ Tough Talk
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Concern among Chinese officials, executives and academics is growing that U.S. attidudes toward China won't cool post-Election Day.
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10.20.12Video: A Visit with Ai Weiwei
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Earlier this year, we invited the artist Ai Weiwei to visit the United States to take part in the New Yorker Festival, held in early October. At the time, the Chinese government had barred Ai from traveling abroad—an unofficial form of punishment...
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10.19.12The Creation Myth of Xi Jinping
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If every modern president needs a creation myth, then Xi Jinping's begins on the dusty loess plateau of northwest China. It was here that Xi spent seven formative years, working among the peasants and living in a lice-infested cave dug...
Caixin Media
10.19.12
Flying Splinters
Liu Futang expressed a sense of foreboding just before his recent arrest by posting a microblog entry that began, “If one day I’m invited out for tea, please don’t worry about me.”“Drink tea” is a euphemism in China for an unwanted interrogation by...
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10.18.12Huntsman Speaks Out
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Since withdrawing from the Republican primaries in January, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman has tried to stay engaged with China, where he served as Barack Obama's ambassador from 2009-2011. But China hasn't always...
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10.18.12Radio: Shanghai Residents Discuss U.S. Presidential Debate
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Eight Chinese watched and discussed Tuesday's U.S. presidential debate at the NPR Shanghai bureau.
Reports
10.18.12
Cyber Detente Between the United States and China
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In May 2012, the United States and China agreed publicly for the first time to begin talks on military aspects of cybersecurity. The agenda and expectations for this process at the official level remain to be set. Through Track 2 processes some very...