The Shadow from Yasukuni

Rana Mitter
Project Syndicate
Around this time of year, speculation in Asia always runs high as to whether Japan’s prime minister or other prominent politicians will visit the Yasukuni Shrine to honor, among others, more than a thousand indicted war criminals.

Where Is China’s Gorbachev?

Matt Schiavenza
Atlantic
Why China hasn't had—and isn't likely to have—a political reformer in the mold of the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Caixin Media

08.19.13

Infrequent Flying Snarls Civil Aviation Sector

Getting away for a little surf and sand ought to be easy for Beijingers like Mr. Wang, who recently boarded one of the daily, four-hour flights that link the capital and sub-tropical Hainan Island in China’s far south.But airport delays seriously...

The Man Who Got It Right

Ian Buruma from New York Review of Books
1.Near the beginning of Simon Leys’ marvelous collection of essays is an odd polemic between the author and the late Christopher Hitchens, fought out in these very pages. Leys takes Hitchens to task for attacking Mother Teresa in a book entitled The...

No 'How-To' Book from the West Can Curb Corruption in China

Eric Li
South China Morning Post
 Roots of corruption are unique everywhere and, in China, it stems from a disconnect between political authority based on a selfless moral claim and economic realities. 

What’s China Got Against the U.S. Constitution?

Benjamin Carlson
Global Post
The Communist Party mouthpiece, People’s Daily, attacked America’s constitutional structure, claiming that “there is no such thing as democracy and freedom under U.S. constitutional governance.”

Prominent Chinese Activist Releases Jail Video

Josh Chin
Wall Street Journal
Supporters of Chinese lawyer Xu Zhiyong have released a video, filmed inside an undisclosed detention center, of the prominent rights activist proclaiming his willingness to pay any price for social progress.

From Maoist Criminal to Popular Hero?

Pin Ho
New York Times
At a time of rampant corruption and social injustice, many see Bo Xilai as a charismatic leftist who at least dared to challenge the status quo of organized crime and official self-dealing and to revive Mao’s socialist, egalitarian ideals.&nbsp...

Is This Lazy Panda China’s Zuckerberg?

Adam Minter
Bloomberg
State-owned China Network Television has installed more than 30 cameras at a panda reserve in Western China, designed a fancy website providing access to the cameras, launched a mobile app so the pandas can be watched on-the-go, and then...

Postcard

08.08.13

Portraits of the Faceless

Katharina Hesse & David M. Barreda
Nine years ago, photographer Katharina Hesse began to make portraits of North Korean defectors. To protect their identities she asked only that they “give something” of themselves to the photographs. Her subjects bury their faces in their hands, or...

Media

08.08.13

Chinese State Media: Online Critics “Incite Political Unrest”

While the Internet has become the site of almost constant political arguments in China, few articles have generated as much debate as a recent piece by blogger Wang Xiaoshi. On August 1, Xinhua News Agency, a state-run media outlet, posted Wang’s...

Conversation

08.07.13

What Will Come out of the Communist Party’s Polling the People Online?

David Wertime, Duncan Clark & more
David Wertime:Simon Denyer’s recent article (“In China, Communist Party Takes Unprecedented Step: It Is Listening,” The Washington Post, August 2, 2013) provides a valuable look at some of the ways that Chinese authority mines domestic micro-...

Chinese Judges Disciplined for Cavorting With Prostitutes

Jane Perlez
New York Times
 Two judges and an official of the Shanghai high court have been expelled from the Communist Party and dismissed from their jobs after being seen on video apparently consorting with prostitutes in glitzy nightclubs.

Opposing Editorials Reflect Ideological Rift in Communist Party

Cary Huang
South China Morning Post
The People’s Daily and Study Times, ran editorials expressing their opposing views on the issue of constitutionalism: limiting the government’s power by a higher system of laws that protects citizens’...

Books

08.05.13

China Threat?

Lionel Vairon
From the long-term threat of nuclear war between the U.S. and China, to the disappearance of the African elephant due to Chinese demand for ivory, each week brings a new round of critique and denunciation of the risks China poses to the stability of the entire planet. While critics raise a certain number of fundamental questions that bear asking about this nascent superpower, the answers put forth are usually based on ideological or economic considerations. Lionel Vairon systematically challenges these views in this first English language edition of China Threat?With an incisive review of China’s economic strategy, deployment of resources, national defence, political reform, ethnicity and religion, terrorism, and developments in human rights, Vairon amply demonstrates that China poses no threat to the world. On the contrary, China Threat? shows that China’s peaceful rise should be a matter of positive news across the globe.  —CN Times Books {chop}

The Chinese Communist Party Has Embraced the Internet—For Public Polling

Adam Pasick
Atlantic
Beijing has started to glean political intelligence from the same systems they restrict access to.

Life in a Toxic Country

Edward Wong
New York Times
Before this assignment, I reported from Iraq, where foreign correspondents talked endlessly of the variety of ways in which one could die. I survived those threats, only now to find myself wondering: Is China doing irreparable harm to me and my...

China Media on the Snowden Saga

BBC
Media in China see further embarrassment for the United States after whistleblower Edward Snowden gets temporary asylum in Russia.

Japan Looking for Ways to Restart Top-Level Meetings with China

Asahi Shimbun
Japan and China have not held high-level meetings since the Japanese government placed the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea under national ownership in September 2012.

China Condemns U.S. Senate Over Sea Dispute Resolution

Ben Blanchard
Reuters
China said on Thursday it had lodged a formal complaint with the United States after the U.S. Senate passed a resolution expressing concern about Chinese actions in the disputed East and South China Seas.

Conversation

08.01.13

How Dangerous Are Sino-Japanese Tensions?

Jerome A. Cohen
Sino-Japanese relations do not look promising at the moment. Obviously, the Diaoyu-Senkaku dispute is not the only factor in play but it does focus nationalist passions on both sides. Yet both countries are capable of wiser conduct if their leaders...

Ties With Japan Face ‘Grim Test,’ China Naval Researcher Writes

Henry Sanderson
Bloomberg
“Japan, of course, wants to have it both ways; it wants to share in the dividends from China’s economic growth, while maintaining a hardline stance in its relations with China,” Xing wrote. “It is therefore extremely unlikely that there will be any...

China's Bo To Plead guilty, But Maybe Not To All Charges

Benjamin Kang Lim, Ben Blanchard
Reuters
Disgraced Chinese leader Bo Xilai has agreed to plead guilty at a trial likely to be held within weeks, three sources said, in an apparent bid to earn a more lenient sentence and allow authorities to close the door on the country's biggest...

China Threat? Former French Diplomat Says No

Heng Shao
Forbes
Former French diplomat Lionel Vairon believes that the fear of a rising China results from the inability of Western countries to recognize China’s legitimate national interests. China will become problematic only if dominant powers attempt to...

GAPPRFT Portfolio Published

Sophie Beach
China Digital Times
As part of a government restructuring program initiated at the National People's Congress in March, the General Administration of Press and Publications was merged with the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

Myanmar-China Gas Pipeline Goes Into Operation

Global Post
As well as diversifying China's sources of fuel, by supplying energy to the vast and less developed west the Myanmar-China gas pipeline could help Beijing's attempts to promote economic growth there.

Caixin Media

07.29.13

Why a Reporter Feels Sympathy for an Airport Bomber

These past few years as a reporter, I have met some people with nothing left to live for and now another person can be added to the list. Ji Zhongxing, the disabled man who set off a bomb in a Beijing airport on July 20, is that person.Ji and I are...

China Orders Government-Debt Audit as Growth Risks Rise

Bloomberg
China will start a nationwide audit of government debt this week as the new Communist Party leadership investigates the threats to growth and the financial system from a record credit boom. The State Council, under Premier Li Keqiang,...

Chinese, With Revamped Force, Make Presence Known in East China Sea

Jane Perlez
New York Times
The large number of Chinese and Japanese maritime vessels in dangerous proximity in the East China Sea at a time of high tensions over the islands has raised alarm in Washington about clashes that could lead to larger conflict.

Europe and China Agree to Settle Solar Panel Fight

James Kanter, Keith Bradsher
New York Times
The European Union’s trade chief said on Saturday that a deal had been reached with China to settle a dispute over exports of low-cost solar panels that had threatened to set off a wider trade war between two of the world’s largest economies.

Fallen Leader Is Indicted in China

Edward Wong
New York Times
Bo Xilai, the disgraced former Communist Party official, was indicted on Thursday on criminal charges of bribery, corruption and abuse of power, paving the way for a prominent trial expected to start within weeks.

China Sets Timeline for Resolving Bo Xilai Scandal

Bloomberg
China set a timeline for the prosecution of disgraced Politburo member Bo Xilai, moving to resolve a scandal that overshadowed a once-in-a-decade transfer of power and tested the unity of new Communist Party leaders.

China Orders Ban on New Government Buildings

Keith Bradsher
New York Times
The new directive, which bans the construction of government buildings for the next five years, showed clear signs of being a continuation of the anticorruption campaign, describing the ban as “important for building a clean government” and...

Former China Party Highflier Bo Xilai Is Charged With Corruption

WSJ: China Real Time Report
The indictment accuses Mr. Bo of taking advantage of his position "to seek profits for others" and accepting an "extremely large amount" in money and property, Xinhua said. "He also embezzled a huge amount of public money...

Chinese VP’s Visit to North Korea Prompts Détente Watch

WSJ: China Real Time Report
All eyes will be watching for signs of détente over North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program when Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao becomes the highest-ranking among China’s new leadership to visit Pyongyang this week.

Environment

07.25.13

Comment: Polluters Shouldn’t Be the Judge of Other Polluters

from chinadialogue
If the law sets a criminal to catch other criminals what do you think those criminals will think? My colleagues have discovered that new legislation threatens to do just that.A new draft revision of the Environmental Protection Law is now online for...

Bo Xilai Charged With Corruption, Bribery, Abuse of Power

Bloomberg
“Defendant Bo Xilai used his official state position to seek benefits, illegally accepted an extremely huge amount of property from others, embezzled a huge amount of public money, and abused his power, resulting in huge losses to the nation and the...

China Orders Ban on New Government Buildings

Keith Bradsher
New York Times
The ban is the latest in a series of initiatives by President Xi Jinping to discourage corruption and foster frugality at a time of broad popular resentment against high-living bureaucrats. 

Former China Party Highflier Bo Xilai Is Charged With Corruption

Jeremy Page and Lingling Wei
Wall Street Journal
The indictment accuses Mr. Bo of taking advantage of his position “to seek profits for others” and accepting an “extremely large amount” in money and property, Xinhua said. 

Chinese VP’s Visit to North Korea Prompts Détente Watch

WSJ: China Real Time Report
The visit comes directly after China and the U.S. held their annual Strategic & Economic Dialogue in Washington, in which how to handle North Korea was a major area of discussion, although the two countries still have not agreed on a course...

Conversation

07.25.13

The Bo Xilai Trial: What’s It Really About?

Jerome A. Cohen, Andrew J. Nathan & more
China has charged disgraced senior politician Bo Xilai with bribery, abuse of power and corruption, paving the way for a potentially divisive trial. But what’s at stake goes beyond the fate of one allegedly corrupt official: Is it really a fight...

Reports

07.24.13

Throttling Dissent: China’’s New Leaders Refine Internet Control

Madeline Earp
Freedom House
This special report is based on the 2013 China chapter of Freedom House’’s annual Freedom on the Net survey. As the home of one of the most systematically controlled and monitored online environments in the world, China will no doubt retain its...

Conversation

07.23.13

What Would a Hard Landing in China Mean for the World?

Barry Naughton, James McGregor & more
Barry Naughton:Paul Krugman in a recent post (“How Much Should We Worry About a China Shock?” The New York Times, July 20, 2013) tells us NOT to worry about the impact of a slowing China on global exports, but to be worried, very worried about the...

Ai Weiwei Talks Edward Snowden, Nationalism, and Fighting Boredom

Wang Yiquan
Blouin Artinfo
“Nationalism is a very old concept, and it has become weaker during globalisation,” Ai told ARTINFO. “But from the Snowden incident, we can see that even if nationalism is weak, its power structures still exist.” 

Why It’s News That China’s President Stood In The Rain With His Pants Rolled Up

Lily Kuo
Quartz
Xi—who has promised to tackle government corruption and lavish spending by officials—is trying to counter an image of elitism in dress, plain speech, and a few gestures of openness rarely seen at the upper rungs of China’s communist party.

A Reformist Chinese Leader? Stop Fooling Yourself

Jeffrey Wasserstrom
Time
Headline after headline - about the intractability of corruption, the death of a watermelon vendor or a petitioner's desperate attempt to draw attention to this plight by detonating an explosive device at a Beijing...

The View From Beijing: The Elusive 'China Threat'

Jonathan Adelman
Huffington Post
China, while rising for over 30 years under a benign Western umbrella, is still several decades away from challenging the West on an equal footing - and it is far from certain that China will ever want to do so except perhaps in East Asia. 

America’s Global Image Remains More Positive than China’s

Pew Global
China is viewed favorably in just half (19 of 38) of the nations surveyed excluding China itself. Beijing’s strongest supporters are in Asia – in Malaysia (81%) and Pakistan (81%) – and in the African nations of Kenya (78%), Senegal (77%) and...

Young Chinese People May Just Not Be That Into Western-Style Democracy

Damien Ma
Atlantic
A new study shows that the country's youth have an increasingly lukewarm attitude about democratic political systems. At a minimum, surveys like these bolster emerging Chinese public intellectuals who are championing Chinese...

Chinese Whistleblower Blinded in Acid Attack

Malcolm Moore
Telegraph
Li Jianxin, an amateur Chinese whistleblower who posted embarrassing pictures of Party officials’ luxury cars, was rammed by a car, blinded with acid, and had two of his fingers cut off.  

Conversation

07.18.13

Xu Zhiyong Arrested: How Serious Can Beijing Be About Political Reform?

Donald Clarke, Andrew J. Nathan & more
Donald Clarke:When I heard that Xu Zhiyong had just been detained, my first thought was, “Again?” This seems to be something the authorities do every time they get nervous, a kind of political Alka Seltzer to settle an upset constitution. I searched...

Viewpoint

07.16.13

CFIUS and the U.S. Senate’s Anti-China Bug

Samuel Kleiner
Last week, senators from both parties finally came together for a common objective: stopping the $4.7 billion sale of America’s largest pork producer to China. Their reason? The sale of Smithfield Farms to a Chinese company, Shuanghui, could pose a...

Conversation

07.16.13

What’s the Senate’s Beef with China’s Play for American Pork?

Arthur R. Kroeber, Steve Dickinson & more
Last week the U.S. Senate held hearings to question the CEO of meat-producer Smithfield Farms, about the proposed $4.7 billion sale of the Virginia-based company to Shuanghui International, China’s largest pork producer. The sale is under review by...

A Rising China Needs a New National Story

Orville Schell and John Delury
Wall Street Journal
It is time for China and the more vociferous propagandists in Beijing to move beyond declarations about China’s “one hundred years of national humiliation.” That period has come to an end. 

Caixin Media

07.16.13

As Red Cross Probe Stumbles, Critics See Red

Two box lunches—and nothing more. Yuan Yue says that’s what the Red Cross Society of China has frugally handed out so far to each member of a special committee assigned to investigate the charity group’s finances.But critics of the special board...

Sinica Podcast

07.12.13

Ripples from the Egyptian Revolution

Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy Goldkorn & more from Sinica Podcast
In Egypt in 2011, what was by all accounts a free and fair democratic election resulted in the victory of Mohammed Morsi, a controversial figure whose brief rule ended last week after being overthrown by the Egyptian military. With Western media...

After Epic Escape From China, Exile Is Mired in Partisan U.S.

Andrew Jacobs
New York Times
Mr. Chen’s political savvy has not translated well in the complex and fiercely partisan terrain he has encountered since his arrival in the United States and he has lost the favor of some of his supporters during his time here. 

Media

07.10.13

Australian PM’s Online Musings Have Chinese Wondering: Where Is Xi’s Microblog Account?

On July 9, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd posted on a social media site about a phone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The twist? The message was written in Chinese on the immensely popular Chinese microblogging platform Sina...

Viewpoint

07.10.13

How the Snowden Affair Might End Up Helping U.S.-China Relations

Orville Schell & John Delury
The reason why both Americans and Chinese have become so nostalgic for the great Nixon/Kissinger-Mao Zedong/Zhou Enlai breakthrough in 1972 is because that was the last time that Sino-U.S. relations experienced a dramatic breakthrough. Now, most...