ChinaFile Recommends
02.18.13Illicit Meth Trade Between China and North Korea Reveals A Lot About Their Relationship
Economist
Border police, especially in the North, are known to take bribes to allow illicit trade to pass. One illegal North Korean export causing social problems is crystal meth, a drug known in China as bingdu, or “ice.”
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02.18.13Government Reform: Super-Size Me
Economist
Officials say fewer, bigger ministries can mean smaller government. Not everyone agrees.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.18.13Nuclear Test Sparks Chinese Radiation Fears
Wall Street Journal
Chinese authorities are moving to tamp down public worries about radiation less than a week after North Korea set off a nuclear test not far from their common border.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.18.13China Plays By Its Own Rules While Going Global
Associated Press
When Venezuela seized billions of dollars in assets from Exxon Mobil and other foreign companies, Chinese state banks and investors didn’t blink. Over the past five years they have loaned Venezuela more than $35 billion.
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02.18.13China Muscles U.S. in the Pacific
Age
Within two decades the United States will be forced out of the western Pacific, says a senior Chinese military officer, amid concerns that increasingly militarised great-power rivalry could lead to war.
Media
02.15.13
Free Coffee for North Korea?
What should China do to persuade its moody ally North Korea to comply with international restrictions on its nuclear ambitions?“Free conference rooms, free coffee, free soft drinks and dessert,” was the surprising and quickly viral Internet...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.15.13Vows of Change in China Belie Private Warning
New York Times
Xi Jinping told party insiders during a visit to Guangdong Province in December, China must still heed the “deeply profound” lessons of the former Soviet Union.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.15.13A War Between China and Japan: What it Could Cost You
Online MBA
Global economists are keeping their eyes glued to the Asia-Pacific region, where a bitter feud is brewing between two of the world’s most powerful nations over a small collectivity of islands in the East China Sea. The Chinese government argues that...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.15.13China Plans to Build the Biggest Branch Campus in the World, but Will It Succeed?
Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chinese government announced recently that it will allow Xiamen University to establish a branch campus in Malaysia.
Conversation
02.15.13
U.S.-China Tensions: What Must Kerry Do?
Dorinda Elliott:On a recent trip to China, I heard a lot of scary talk of potential war over the disputed Diaoyu Islands—this from both senior intellectual types and also just regular people, from an elderly calligraphy expert to a middle-aged...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.14.13North Korea, China Do Their Usual Dance
Christian Science Monitor
North Korea and China have done it again—call it the Pyongyang-Beijing two-step. Though Beijing registered ‘firm opposition’ to North Korea’s nuclear weapons test, it is unlikely to exercise its unique leverage on North Korea to encourage change.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.14.13American Policy Towards China: Getting Beyond the Friend-Or-Foe Fallacy
New America
It is not widely accepted that any meaningful relationship can be boiled down to a single index that quantifies where it is at any moment and whether it is “better’’ or “worse” than a week or a month ago.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.14.13Chinese Netizens Liked Seeing Partisanship at State of the Union
Asia Blog
The partisan dissonance exhibited at President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address was a sight for sore eyes for some users on Sina Weibo, China’s microblogging platform.
Environment
02.14.13
A Progress Report on U.S.-China Energy & Climate Change Cooperation
In his second inaugural address, President Barack Obama committed to confronting climate change, stating, “The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.13.13Waiting for the Next Act
Cairo Review
“The Taoists have always spoken of an un-carved block, and I think that we should look on the new Chinese leadership as being something like that,” says Orville Schell, Arthur Ross director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society.
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02.13.13Ordering Off the Menu in China Debates
Oxford University Press Blog
Mo Yan’s Nobel Prize win last fall led some foreign commentators into an “Ai Weiwei or Zhang Yimou” trap. The former is an artist locked into an antagonistic relationship with the government, the latter a filmmaker who has been...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.13.13Five Ways China Could Become a Democracy
Diplomat
Few have seriously thought about the probability and the various plausible scenarios of a regime transition in China—until now.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.13.13Rebuilding a Relationship, an Interview with Japan’s Ambassador to China
Japan’s new envoy to Beijing, Masato Kitera, says his country will never escalate tensions with China, and points out the two countries have a range of issues they cooperate on.
Conversation
02.13.13
North Korea: How Much More Will China Take and How Should the U.S. Respond?
China is increasingly frustrated with North Korea and may even see more clearly that its actions only serve to increase allied unity, stimulate Japanese militarism and accelerate missile defense. For all these reasons the U.S. should lean on Beijing...
Books
02.12.13
Zhao Ziyang and China’s Political Future
What legacies have previous reformers like Zhao Ziyang left to today’s China? Does China have feasible political alternatives to today’s repressive ‘market Leninism’ and corrupt ‘state capitalism’? Does Zhao’s legacy indicate an alternative to the past and for the future?For those who are familiar with the development of Chinese politics since the reform years, Zhao is now widely regarded as a major architect of the nation’s profound transition. His contributions to China’s post-Mao development are rich and multi faceted, including those on rural and urban economic reforms extending to accountable governance, liberal policies concerning domestic affairs and China’s foreign relations.Featuring contributions from leading experts in the field such as Richard Baum and Xiaonong Cheng, this book explores the historical development of China’s political reform issues, and how his political legacies are relevant to China’s political development since the 1980s to the future. Using recently translated recollection articles by veteran reformers who worked with Zhao in the 1980s, like Du Runsheng, An Zhiwen, Li Rui, Bao Tong, Zhao Ziyang and China’s Political Future is a valuable contribution for students and researchers interested in the Chinese politics, Asian politics and political development in Asia.—Routledge
ChinaFile Recommends
02.12.13Not a Shred of Face: China Reacts to North Korean Nuke Test
Wall Street Journal
Is Kim Jong Eun deliberately trying to insult China? That was the question on the minds of some Chinese following a nuclear test in North Korea that left even the Hermit Kingdom’s closest ally feeling flustered.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.12.13Beijing Slams U.S. Sanctions on Chinese Companies
South China Morning Post
Beijing has denounced U.S. sanctions imposed on four Chinese companies and one individual last week for allegedly breaching a U.S. law designed to hamper the development of weapons of mass destruction by Iran, North Korea or Syria.
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02.12.13Zhuang Zedong, Skilled in China Foreign Relations and Ping-Pong, Dies at 72
New York Times
In 1971, at the world table tennis championships in Japan, an American player mistakenly boarded a bus carrying the Chinese team. The team had been told not to talk to Westerners, and an awkward silence descended. Ten minutes elapsed. Then the best...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.12.13North Korea’s Nuclear Test: Are You Listening America?
Economist
EARS shut to the impending chorus of international condemnation, North Korea conducted its third nuclear test on February 12th. It said the detonation was of a “smaller and light” atomic bomb that was different from its previous two, and that it had...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.12.13Nuclear Test Poses Big Challenge to China’s New Leader
New York Times
North Korea’s nuclear test in defiance of China’s warnings leaves that country’s new leader, Xi Jinping, with a choice: Does he upset North Korea just a bit by agreeing to stepped up United Nations sanctions, or does he rattle the regime by...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.11.13Greenland: China’s Foothold in Europe?
Council on Foreign Relations
China’s current and planned investments in Greenland raise concerns, not only about Chinese access to more of the world’s resources but also about China’s longer term objectives and the foothold in Europe that a strong partnership with Greenland...
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02.11.13In China, A Vast Chasm Between the Rich and the Rest
New York Times
The passing coal miners in remote Shaanxi Province took one look at our marooned Audi and walked on, leaving us stuck on the sleet-covered mountain road. As dusk fell, I managed to mingle with some young migrant workers, and trek with them through a...
The NYRB China Archive
02.09.13Blogging the Slow-Motion Revolution
from New York Review of Books
Huang Qi is best known in China as the creator of the country’s first human rights website, Liusi Tianwang, or “June 4 Heavenly Web.” A collection of reports and photos, as well as the occasional first-person account of abuse, the site is updated...
Conversation
02.08.13
Rich, Poor and Chinese—Does Anyone Trust Beijing to Bust the Corrupt?
Andrew Nathan:The new Chinese leadership under Xi Jinping seems to be making some bold opening moves with its attacks on corruption and the announcement on February 5 of plans to reduce the polarization of incomes. Does this mean Xi is...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.06.13Why China Struggles to Find Soft Power Voice
CNN
It’s been almost a year since the U.S. outpost of China Central Television (CCTV) launched under much scrutiny. So far, though, it hasn’t made much of a splash.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.06.13Is China’s Mystery Blogger Xi Jinping Himself?
USA Today
A mystery blogger who appears to have close access to the daily activities of China’s new leader may be the leader himself, say China watchers.
Conversation
02.06.13
Airpocalypse Now: China’s Tipping Point?
The recent run of air pollution in China, we now know, has been worse than the air quality in airport smoking lounges. At its worst, Beijing air quality has approached levels only seen in the United States during wildfires.All of the comparisons to...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.05.13Op-Ed: China’s Big Divorce Case Highlights a Hidden Epidemic of Domestic Violence
Guardian
Kim Lee’s victory over celebrity husband Li Yang is in stark contrast to the treatment handed out to many Chinese women.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.05.13China to Make State Firms Turn Over More Profits
Wall Street Journal
China unveiled guidelines on its long-awaited income redistribution plan by saying it would boost income for the poor, tighten its grip on illegal income and ask state companies to contribute more profits to the government.
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02.05.13Worse Than Poisoned Water: Dwindling Water, in China’s North
New York Times
When 39 tons of the toxic chemical aniline spilled from a factory in Changzhi in China’s Shanxi province at the end of December, polluting drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people downstream along the Zhuozhang River and dangerously...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.04.13China’s People’s Daily Rejects Hacking Allegations by U.S. Media
Agence France-Presse
The official mouthpiece of China’s ruling Communist Party roundly rejected claims of hacking attacks from China by American media outlets, hinting instead at ulterior motives by the U.S.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.04.13Reformers Aim to Get China to Live up to Own Constitution
New York Times
After the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, the surviving Communist Party leaders pursued a project that might sound familiar to those in the West: Write a constitution that enshrines individual rights and ensures rulers are subject to law, so that...
Media
02.04.13
Media Censorship and Its Future
The year 2013 has gotten off to an inauspicious start for China’s press, especially for its most outspoken members. At the end of last year, when many of the country’s media were heralding newly installed Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to...
Caixin Media
02.04.13
Defining the Chinese Dream
A new phase of Sino-American relations is poised to begin now that Xi Jinping has been confirmed as China’s next leader and Barack Obama re-elected U.S. president.In both countries, the debate about foreign policy options has been robust,...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.03.13Is Xi Jinping a Reformer? Wrong Question.
Wall Street Journal
Better questions are needed in order to produce more useful analyses and forecasts of China’s political development. Such analyses should start by recognizing two facts: First, the new leadership’s various initiatives and pronouncements after taking...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.03.13China’s String of Fake Pearls (Blog)
Foreign Policy
For the past few years, a low level theme that occasionally pops into my news feed is the idea of greater Sino-Pakistani cooperation. Now this has a certain amount of realpolitik sense to it. The United States and Pakistan are...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.03.13In a Rush to Urbanize, China Flattens 700 Mountains
USA Today
China’s shift from a rural to urban society is speeding up development projects, including one where a developer is flattening mountains to build a new city.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.03.13(Essay) Masters of Subserviance
New York Times
The Chinese author Wang Xiaofang learned to write corruption exposés the hard way. His decade as a pen-pushing civil servant culminated in a three-year investigation for corruption while his boss, the deputy mayor of the rust-belt city of Shenyang,...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.03.13Xu Liangying, 92, Scientist and Advocate, Dies
New York Times
“Superstition is the great enemy of truth,” Xu told a Chinese magazine, Caijing, last year. “We must use science and democracy to eradicate modern superstitions of every kind, to eradicate superstitions that are born of loyalty.”
The China Africa Project
02.03.13
Rally Cry for the U.S. to Catch Up to the Chinese in Africa
In this episode of the China in Africa Podcast, hosts Eric Olander and Cobus van Staden focus on Delaware Senator Chris Coons’ warning that unless the United States places a greater emphasis on Africa, it will be too late to catch up to the...
ChinaFile Recommends
02.01.13Exclusive: Eric Schmidt Unloads on China in New Book
Wall Street Journal
Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt is brutally clear in his new book, “The New Digital Age”: China is the most dangerous superpower on Earth.
ChinaFile Recommends
02.01.13Defining the Chinese Dream (Editorial)
Amid growing rivalry with the U.S., Beijing’s diplomats must clearly explain their country’s values to ease the concerns of neighbors.
Conversation
02.01.13
China’s Cyberattacks — At What Cost?
James Fallows: Here are some initial reactions on the latest hacking news.We call this the “latest” news because I don’t think anyone, in China or outside, is actually surprised. In my own experience in China, which is limited compared with many of...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.31.13Chinese Hackers Targeted Wall Street Journal
Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal said its computer systems had been infiltrated by Chinese hackers for the apparent purpose of monitoring the newspaper’s China coverage.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.31.13China to Tibetans: Stay Put
Atlantic
The Chinese Communist Party’s repression of its Tibetan minority now extends, apparently, to travel. Few Tibetans have been issued passports since last spring. Beijing has yet to comment officially about this issue, but its approach to Tibet...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.31.13China’s Ethnic Manchus Rediscovering Their Roots
Los Angeles Times
Aristocracy is no longer a dirty word in China, and those with ties to the nation’s last imperial rulers are now embracing their past.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.31.13Chinese Hackers Infiltrate The New York Times Computers
New York Times
For the last four months, Chinese hackers have persistently attacked The New York Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees.
ChinaFile Recommends
01.30.13A Survey of China’s 24 Most Corrupt Officials in 2012
Danwei
The Renmin University Crisis Management Research Center surveyed 24 cases of corruption that became public knowledge on the Chinese Internet in 2012.
Conversation
01.30.13
China, Japan and the Islands: What Do the Tensions Mean?
How did the Diaoyu, Spratly, and Paracel islands come to replace Taiwan as the main source of tension for maritime Asia? And how are we to explain the fact that China’s foreign policy toward its Asian neighbors has now morphed from such slogans as...
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01.30.13China Announces Naval Exercises Amid Japan Tensions
Associated Press
China said Wednesday that its navy would proceed with a deep-water training exercise amid a continuing spat with Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea that has sparked regular confrontations among patrol boats from each side.
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01.30.13China Leader Affirms Policy on Islands
New York Times
China won’t bargain over what it deems to be “core” territorial and security interests, the country’s top leader, Xi Jinping, said in his first published speech setting out his foreign policy views since taking over as head of the Communist...
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01.29.13China Appoints New Tibet Governor, Hardline Policies to Remain
Reuters
China named Losang Gyaltsen Tibet’s new governor, signalling the government won’t ease control of the Himalayan region.
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01.29.13Dissident Chen Sure 1-Party China Will Change
Associated Press
“It’s an inevitability of history, whether the party likes it or not,” Chen said. “Once the people are waking up, change is coming for sure.”
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01.29.13China’s Pollution: The Birth Defect Angle
Atlantic
There are persistent rumors that the horrendous pollution in China has led to a huge increase such births in China.