Is Trump Wise to Take on China over Trade?

BBC
Trade will be one of two key issues on the agenda, along with North Korea. But what’s the problem—and what can Trump do about it?

U.S.-China Trade Scorecard: Advantage China

Roger Yu
USA Today
When President Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, he will remind his guest that China runs the largest trade surplus with the United States.

China’s Emergence as Top U.S. Oil Buyer Highlights Economic Ties

Lucy Hornby
Financial Times
China was the top foreign buyer of U.S. crude in February, according to data that show the growing interdependence of the world’s big energy-consuming nations at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions.

Why China’s Got Beef with U.S. Beef

Bruce Einhorn
Bloomberg
Beef may be on the table when the U.S. president and Chinese leader Xi Jinping discuss trade during this week’s summit at Trump’s Florida resort.

Viewpoint

04.05.17

No Winners or Losers, Please

Paul Gewirtz
Who will be the winner of the upcoming Trump-Xi summit? My answer: That’s a dangerous—and wrongheaded—question to focus on. Yes, we want the U.S. to win, but the U.S.-China relationship must be played and judged as a long game.The present situation...

Can Trump Match Xi Jinping’s Game?

Evan Osnos
New Yorker
Donald Trump has struggled with his position on China. President Xi Jinping has several reasons for confidence when he arrives at Mar-a-Lago for negotiations.

Books

04.05.17

China’s Crony Capitalism

Minxin Pei
When Deng Xiaoping launched China on the path to economic reform in the late 1970s, he vowed to build “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” More than three decades later, China’s efforts to modernize have yielded something very different from the working people’s paradise Deng envisioned: an incipient kleptocracy, characterized by endemic corruption, soaring income inequality, and growing social tensions. China’s Crony Capitalism traces the origins of China’s present-day troubles to the series of incomplete reforms from the post-Tiananmen era that decentralized the control of public property without clarifying its ownership.Beginning in the 1990s, changes in the control and ownership rights of state-owned assets allowed well-connected government officials and businessmen to amass huge fortunes through the systematic looting of state-owned property—in particular land, natural resources, and assets in state-run enterprises. Mustering compelling evidence from over two hundred corruption cases involving government and law enforcement officials, private businessmen, and organized crime members, Minxin Pei shows how collusion among elites has spawned an illicit market for power inside the party-state, in which bribes and official appointments are surreptitiously but routinely traded. This system of crony capitalism has created a legacy of criminality and entrenched privilege that will make any movement toward democracy difficult and disorderly.Rejecting conventional platitudes about the resilience of Chinese Communist Party rule, Pei gathers unambiguous evidence that beneath China’s facade of ever-expanding prosperity and power lies a Leninist state in an advanced stage of decay. —Harvard University Press{chop}

A Veteran and China Hand Advises Trump for Xi’s Visit

Mark Landler and Jane Perlez
New York Times
This week, Matthew Pottinger will be on hand for President Trump’s meeting with President Xi Jinping of China, as the top Asia policy maker in an administration desperately short of his kind of on-the-ground experience.

As Trump-Xi Summit Looms, Evidence of Strained Ties on China-North Korea Border

Sue-Lin Wong and Joseph Campbell
Reuters
What was planned in 2011 as a 30 billion yuan ($4.36 billion) development intended to showcase economic engagement between the two countries has stalled in recent months.

Trump’s Gifts to China

Roger Cohen
New York Times
The United States meets China this week in a position of weakness.

Despite Trump’s Rage against China, American Public Opinion Is Warming to the Asian Giant

Simon Denyer
Washington Post
As the U.S. president prepares to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Florida this week, a new survey by the Pew Research Center shows that the American public is significantly less worried about those issues than they were a couple of years...

South Korean Automakers Cut China Production amid Missile Dispute

Hyunjoo Jin
Reuters
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Motors Corp have sharply cut vehicle production in China, sources said, as anti-Korean sentiment and competition from Chinese brands play havoc on sales and threaten earnings.

China Meeting Spotlights Trump Ethics Swamp: Sen. Cardin

Ben Cardin
USA Today
We can't tell if he's acting in the public interest or tending to the family business.

India-China Row Deepens as Dalai Lama Arrives in NE India

Wasbir Hussain
Seattle Times
India said Tuesday that China should not interfere in its internal affairs, as the Dalai Lama began a weeklong visit to India’s remote northeast that Beijing has protested.

As He Gets Ready to Meet Trump in Florida, China’s Xi Jinping Has a Lot to Worry about

Jonathan Kaiman
Los Angeles Times
The meeting could set the tone for the next several years of U.S.-China relations, and allow the two leaders to square each other up on issues including North Korea and global trade.

Trump’s Bad Deal with China

Charles Edel and Mira Rapp-Hooper
Politico
The early signs suggest Xi Jinping will run the table at Mar-a-Lago.

Conversation

04.04.17

What Should We Expect When Trump and Xi Meet in Florida?

David Dollar, Jeremy Goldkorn & more
On April 6-7, U.S. President Donald Trump will host Xi Jinping in their first face-to-face meeting when China’s President arrives at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. The meeting comes early in Trump’s presidency, after a campaign in which he frequently...

Trump Ready to Tackle North Korea Alone—FT Exclusive

Lionel Barber, Demetri Sevastopulo, and...
Financial Times
Donald Trump has warned that the U.S. will take unilateral action to eliminate the nuclear threat from North Korea unless China increases pressure on the regime in Pyongyang.

China Plan to Create New Shenzhen Spurs Speculative Rampage

Lisa Pham and Jenny Yu
Bloomberg
Within 24 hours of Saturday’s announcement that the government would create the Xiongan area in Hebei province—in the same spirit that Shenzhen and Shanghai’s Pudong was built—hordes of prospective buyers had thronged to the region.

The Big Unanswered Question ahead of Trump’s First China Meeting

Max Ehrenfreund
Washington Post
After a campaign defined in large part by a pledge to turn the nation’s trade agenda on its head, President Trump has opened his presidency with a series of modest, more cautious steps

China Learns How to Get Trump’s Ear: Through Jared Kushner

Mark Landler
New York Times
The Chinese ambassador, Cui Tiankai, has established a busy back channel to Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, according to several officials briefed on the relationship.

Canada Deports Hundreds to China Each Year with No Treatment Guarantee

Nathan VanderKlippe
Globe and Mail
The Canadian government is deporting hundreds of people to China each year without receiving any assurances that they will not be tortured or otherwise mistreated, statistics provided to The Globe and Mail reveal.

If U.S. Trade with China Is So Unfair, Why Is GM the Best-Selling Car There?

Tim Fernholz
Quartz
Ahead of a high-stakes summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Donald Trump’s White House has made clear that it isn’t happy with China’s high tariffs on imported American automobiles.

The New York Times vs. the ‘Great Firewall’ of China

Craig S. Smith
New York Times
The problem in China is that you never really know who is behind such decisions. Chinese bureaucracy is like a series of Chinese boxes that are harder and harder to open as you move toward the center.

Viewpoint

04.03.17

What Does the Future Hold for Business between the U.S. and China under Trump?

Ker Gibbs
We are now well into the first 100 days of the Trump administration. His supporters expect major changes in the China relationship. They voted for a man who promised to impose a 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods and slap China with the currency...

China Spends Billions in Egypt to Woo the Middle East

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz’s recent state visit to Beijing is the latest evidence that China is maneuvering to play a bigger role in the Middle East and Persian Gulf. The two countries reportedly signed deals worth upwards of $65 billion during...

China’s Once and Future Democracy

Orville Schell
Wall Street Journal
Despite Xi Jinping’s crackdown and Donald Trump’s silence on human rights, China has a vibrant democratic legacy that may yet reassert itself.

Conversation

03.31.17

Is Hong Kong on Its Way to Becoming Just Another City in the P.R.C.?

Antony Dapiran, Suzanne Sataline & more
On March 26, the roughly 1,200-person Hong Kong Election Committee chose Carrie Lam as chief executive—Hong Kong’s fourth leader since the United Kingdom returned the territory to Chinese rule in 1997. Unpopular with Hong Kong’s pro-democracy...

Trump Will Host China’s President in Florida on April 6

Bill Chappell
NPR
Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit President Trump in Palm Beach, Fla., next week, for talks that will likely range from economic to security issues. The first meeting between the two leaders will stretch from April 6-7.

Climate Change: China Calls U.S. ‘Selfish’ after Trump Seeks to Bring back Coal

Benjamin Haas
Guardian
State-run tabloid says Beijing cannot fill vacuum left by U.S. and urges west to pressure Trump on global warming

Chinese Capital Constraints Send Shock through Global M&A

Don Weinland and Javier Espinoza
Financial Times
Outbound deals hit lowest level since 2014 after cash clampdown

State Department Aide Charged for Hiding Gifts from Chinese Agents

Josh Gerstein
Politico
A veteran State Department employee who held a Top Secret clearance and did three tours in China is facing criminal charges for allegedly covering up tens of thousands of dollars in gifts she and an associate took from Chinese agents.

China Has an Irrational Fear of a “Black Invasion” Bringing Drugs, Crime, and Interracial Marriage

Joanna Chiu
Quartz
A Chinese politician proudly shared with reporters his proposal on how to “solve the problem of the black population in Guangdong.” The province is widely known in China to have many African migrants.

Trump’s First Test in Asia, Part II

Paul Haenle & Michael Green from Carnegie China
While President Trump appoints new officials to his administration and reviews policy frameworks, Asia-Pacific leaders are moving ahead. Since taking office, Trump has grappled with consequential developments in the region, ranging from North Korea’...

China Poised to Take Lead on Climate After Trump’s Move to Undo Policies

Edward Wong
New York Times
President Trump’s signing of an executive order on Tuesday aimed at undoing many of the Obama administration’s climate change policies flips the roles of the two powers.

Kushner Family, China’s Anbang End Talks over Manhattan Real Estate Deal

Rob Schmitz
NPR
The family of President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, has called off talks with Chinese insurance company Anbang to redevelop a Manhattan office tower—a deal that raised ethical concerns.

China Says It Has Detained Rights Activist from Taiwan

Chris Buckley and Chris Horton
New York Times
The detention adds to signs of an intensified clampdown on outsiders working with China’s beleaguered rights lawyers and groups.

South China Sea Controversy Heats up as Man-Made Islands Are Almost Complete

Kirrily Schwarz
News.com.au
The controversy in the South China Sea is heating up, with a new report from the U.S. warning China has almost completed construction of three mysterious man-made islands.

China Should Learn the Golden Rule

Christopher Balding
Bloomberg
The truth is that Chinese companies looking to invest abroad are treated now—as they’ve been for years—far better than China treats foreign investors.

Liberating China’s Past

Ian Johnson from New York Review of Books
With the closing of this month’s National People’s Congress, China’s political season is upon us. It will culminate in the autumn with Xi Jinping’s almost certain reappointment to another five-year term. With Xi rapidly becoming the most important...

Taiwan Democracy Activist Said To Be Detained in China

Fox News
People close to a Taiwanese pro-democracy activist say he went missing nine days ago during a visit to the Chinese territory of Macau and appears to be in Chinese custody.

China’s HNA in Talks to Buy Controlling Stake in Forbes: Sources

CNBC
Acquisitive Chinese conglomerate HNA Group is in talks to buy a controlling stake in the owner of the publisher of Forbes magazine, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters

China Bars Professor at Australian University From Leaving, Lawyer Says

Chris Buckley
New York Times
A Chinese-born professor at an Australian university who has often criticized Beijing’s crackdown on political dissent has been barred from leaving China and is being questioned by state security officers as a suspected threat to national security,...

China Plans Fresh Crackdown on Tangshan Steel Production

Emily Feng
Financial Times
China is planning a new crackdown on steel production in the north-eastern city of Tangshan in a bid to prevent false reporting of mill closures by local governments reluctant to obey shutdown orders.

China State Firms Eye Land around Panama Canal: Waterway Authority

Brenda Goh
Reuters
Chinese state firms have expressed an interest to develop land around the Panama Canal, the chief executive of the vital trade thoroughfare said, underlining China’s outward push into infrastructure via railways and ports around the world.

In Rare Move, Chinese Think Tank Criticizes Tepid Pace of Reform

Chris Buckley
New York Times
These withering findings on China’s reforms come from a startling place: from within the government itself.

Caixin Media

03.27.17

Expert Doubts Incentives Would Boost China’s Birth Rate

Proposed incentives for couples to have a second baby—including tax breaks and extra maternity leave—won’t lead to a significant spike in China’s birth rate, a renowned demographer said.Liang Zhongtang’s comments come amid growing concerns about the...

New Zealand and China Plan to Expand Free-Trade Deal

Nick Perry
Seattle Times
New Zealand and China announced Monday they would open talks soon to expand a successful free-trade deal in place for nearly a decade.

The New (Red) iPhone Shows How a Simple Act of Charity Isn’t So Simple in China

Josh Horwitz
Quartz
In China tomorrow (March 24) Apple will launch the crimson-hued iPhone 7 and 7plus devices in partnership with (RED), an AIDS-relief charity it has promoted and supported for over a decade.

Books

03.27.17

Wish Lanterns

Alec Ash
If China will rule the world one day, who will rule China? There are more than 320 million Chinese between the ages of 16 and 30. Children of the one-child policy, born after Mao, with no memory of the Tiananmen Square massacre, they are the first net native generation to come of age in a market-driven, more international China. Their experiences and aspirations were formed in a radically different country from the one that shaped their elders, and their lives will decide the future of their nation and its place in the world.Wish Lanterns offers a deep dive into the life stories of six young Chinese. Dahai is a military child, netizen, and self-styled loser. Xiaoxiao is a hipster from the freezing north. Fred, born on the tropical southern island of Hainan, is the daughter of a Party official, while Lucifer is a would-be international rock star. Snail is a country boy and Internet-gaming addict, and Mia is a fashionista rebel from far west Xinjiang. Following them as they grow up, go to college, and find work and love, all the while navigating the pressure of their parents and society, Wish Lanterns paints a vivid portrait of Chinese youth culture and of a millennial generation whose struggles and dreams reflect the larger issues confronting China today. —Arcade Publishing{chop}

Trump’s First Test in Asia

Paul Haenle & Michael Green from Carnegie China
While President Trump appoints new officials to his administration and reviews policy frameworks, Asia-Pacific leaders are moving ahead. Since taking office, Trump has grappled with consequential developments in the region, ranging from North Korea’...

Conversation

03.24.17

Does Tillerson’s Asia Visit Signal a New Era in U.S.-China Relations?

Scott Kennedy & Shen Dingli
On March 19, during his first trip to Asia as U.S. Secretary of State, and amidst rising tensions with North Korea, Rex Tillerson met with China’s Communist Party Secretary Xi Jinping. The day before, Tillerson released a statement describing the...

Malaysia Buying Chinese Ships to Protect its Waters From China, Other

Voice of America
Officials from the Southeast Asian country, with a coastline stretching from the Sulu Sea westward to the Indian Ocean, said in November they would get four littoral mission ships made in China.

Australia Shouldn't Pick Between U.S. and China, Premier Li Says

Bloomberg
Australia, which has fought alongside the U.S. in every major conflict since World War I, has been careful not to offend China, which was responsible for 31 percent of its merchandise exports in the 12 months to July last year.

As Hong Kong Chooses Its Next Leader, China Still Pulls the Strings

Alan Wong
New York Times
For the fifth time, Hong Kong’s next chief executive will be selected on Sunday by a committee stacked with supporters of the Chinese government rather than by a free election.

As China’s Li Visits Down Under, Trump on Australian PM Turnbull’s Mind

Nyshka Chandran
CNBC
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is expected to keep his relationship with the U.S. in close focus as China’s Li Keqiang becomes the first Premier in eleven years to visit Down Under.

Why Is Spain in the Middle of a Spat between China and Taiwan?

Kevin Ponniah
BBC
Spain could soon become the first European Union country to extradite Taiwanese criminal suspects to China, instead of their home island.

Demolishing Dalian: China’s ‘Russian’ City Is Erasing Its Heritage—in Pictures

Francesca Perry
Guardian
Founded by the Russians, Dalian boasts a wealth of architectural history. But now its treasured buildings are marked for demolition—and the government is being sued. One student went to capture the area before it disappears

Eleven Countries Signed a Letter Slamming China for Torturing Lawyers. The U.S. Did Not.

Simon Denyer
Washington Post
When 11 embassies signed on to a joint letter criticizing China over “credible claims” that lawyers and human rights activists have been tortured while in detention, there were two notable abstentions.

Why China Stoking up Anger over South Korea Missile System Is Doomed to Fail

Josh Ye
South China Morning Post
Encouraging boycotts of South Korean goods won’t stop Seoul deploying the defence shield, but will sour an economically valuable relationship, observers say