China Leader Affirms Policy on Islands
China won't bargain over what it deems to be “core” territorial and security interests, the country’s top leader...
Xi Jinping’s Opposition to Political Reforms Laid out in Leaked Internal Speech
Beijing-based writer Gao Yu’s writing on a speech Xi Jinping made during his “southern tour” in December, suggests Xi, who blames those not “man enough” to do what had to be done to save the Soviet Communist Party from itself, has even less...
Beijing Observation: Xi Jinping the Man
Xi Jinping’s “new southern tour speech,” made in December, began circulating last week in the party. It reads like a confirmation of Harvard Professor Roderick MacFarquhar’s prediction that the likelihood of the Chinese Communist Party reforming...
Xi Calls to Solve “Sensitive Issues” in China-Japan Ties
Top leader Xi Jinping met with Japanese envoy Natsuo Yamaguchi, the highest-level contact between the two countries since tensions over the Diaoyu Islands spiked in September.
New Komeito, LDP at Odds Over How to Improve Ties with China
New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi's meeting on Jan. 25 with Chinese leader Xi Jinping highlighted the differences emerging within the ruling coalition over how to improve ties with Beijing.
China Wouldn’t Mind a Unified Korea--Just Not Yet
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, China has had the dubious distinction of being North Korea’s only ally and friend on the world stage.
Ex-China Leader Steps Back, Fueling Speculation
A decade after Jiang Zemin stepped down as China’s top leader he has used the death of a former rival to signal that he may allow his political shadow to recede.
(Editorial) Fate of the World Rests with SIno-U.S. Ties
The gap between the strength of China and the US will narrow. Previous experiences in international politics will be viewed as realistic reasons to exacerbate tensions between the two sides. This is a dangerous era.
Viewpoint
01.15.13
Will Xi Jinping Differ from His Predecessors?
As part of our continuing series on China’s recent leadership transition, Arthur Ross Fellow Ouyang Bin sat down with political scientist Andrew Nathan, who published...
Viewpoint
01.13.13
Is Xi Jinping a Reformer? It’s Much Too Early to Tell
Last weekend, Nicholas Kristof wrote in the pages of The New York Times that he feels moderately confident...
Nicholas Kristof: Looking for a Jumpstart in China
The new paramount leader, Xi Jinping, will spearhead a resurgence of economic reform, and probably some political easing as...
Times Reporter in China is Forced to Leave over Visa Issue
A correspondent who applied for press accreditation in September left because authorities did not act by Dec. 31.
For China’s ‘Great Renewal,’ 8 Trends to Keep an Eye On
The Bo Xilai scandal, an economic downturn and the leadership switch from Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping made 2012 one of China’s most eventful years. It is hard to imagine that next year will be as exciting, but there will be change.
CCTV Airs “V for Vendetta”
When CCTV aired, uncut V for Vendetta about an anti-totalitarian masked crusader, viewers couldn’t believe their eyes.
China’s Reforms–Now Comes the Hard Part
Since taking the reins of the Communist Party last month, Mr. Xi has chosen his words—and his symbols—carefully. His first tour outside of Beijing since taking the top job was to Guangdong—which spearheaded China’s economic reforms and was the...
China Trade Slowdown Shows Xi Must Fuel Consumption
The new Communist leaders must reduce China’s reliance on exports to sustain expansion as the country faces a wealth gap that runs a risk of fomenting social unrest.
Media
12.09.12
New Leaders’ Common Touch Gives Netizens “Great Hope”
Glad-handing with the locals. Kissing babies. Eating fast food. These are tried and true ways that American politicians seek to advertise their common touch; but when China’s new leaders employ these methods, it is greeted as a pleasant surprise...
Sinica Podcast
12.07.12
Time to Leave China?
from Sinica PodcastIt wasn’t very long ago that the Chinese blogosphere became engrossed with two near-simultaneous and very public posts by well-known expats marking their decisions to leave China for greener pastures. While grumbling about this country is nothing...
Xi Jinping heads to Shenzhen on first inspection trip
It is a move political observers say pays tribute to the famous southern tour of Deng Xiaoping in 1992 and sends a signal of commitment to deepening reform. A Shenzhen propaganda official said Xi, who will succeed Hu Jintao as president in March...
Why Is China Censoring a Fake Photo of its Leaders Doing 'Gangnam Style'?
A doctored photo of China's top officials doing a popular South Korean dance went viral 'til Chinese censors pulled it down.
China’s Xi May Unveil Plan for Change Late 2013, CICC Head Says
China’s new leadership, headed by Xi Jinping, will probably unveil new market-oriented changes in late 2013, according to Li Jiange, head of the country’s biggest investment bank.
Li,...
The Saturday Profile: Peng Liyuan, First Lady of China
The top pop-folk icon is beloved for a glass-cracking soprano and her range of roles, from Tibetan yak herder to stiff-lipped general.
China’s New Chief
When it was all over this morning, and the seven men had returned once again to the secluded backstage of the Great Hall of the People, trailed by their security, and the stage where they had stood was suddenly empty. I walked up to the spot...
Viewpoint
11.15.12
Age of China’s New Leaders May Have Been Key to Their Selection
Earlier this week, before the new Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) and Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party were announced, I argued that the Party faces the difficult problem of how to allocate power in the...
Habemus Papam! China Unveils its New Leaders
With its unique and mystifying blend of pageantry, ritual and secrecy, China’s ruling Communist Party has named its seven new leaders.
The New Member's of China's Ruling Body
All of China’s new Politburo Standing Committee, the group of politicians who rule country, have close connections with former leaders.
China, at Party Congress, Touts its Cultural Advances
Party guidance is the "soul” of China's moves to privitize and promote industries that can spread soft power abroad.
Is China Better at Picking Leaders than the U.S.?
The case for China is that its leaders can emphasize long-term planning and difficult decisions over short-term politics and voter-appeasement.
China Decides (Series)
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 new...
Generational Change on Hold in China’s Leadership Transition
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...
Candidates Debate Rise of China; China Debates Reform
China's presumptive next president, Xi Jinping, may wish his economy were the juggernaut many...
Many Urge China’s Next Leader to Liberalize
After it was leaked that Xi Jinping, the man...
The Creation Myth of Xi Jinping
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...
China Gets Back to Work
After China's Golden Week holiday, a round-up of important recent stories on economy and politics.
Sinica Podcast
09.21.12
The Island Imbroglio
from Sinica PodcastAs Xi Jinping has stepped back into the public eye this week, the reappearance of China’s heir apparent has been upstaged by large demonstrations across the country as tensions mount over territorial claims to the Diaoyu (or Senkaku) Islands. As...
Panetta to Meet Xi Jinping on Extended Trip to China
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's trip to China has been extended by a day and will include meetings with...
A Chinese Leader Returns Amid Tumult
The reappearance on Saturday of Xi Jinping, a...
Off-Script Scramble for Power in a Chinese Leader’s Absence
With still no sign of China’s designated new leader, ...
Where’s Xi? Using New Code Words, China’s Netizens Speculate by the Thousands
It’s a cat and mouse game for netizens who are interested in Mr. Xi’s coming and goings. Certain code words for Mr. Xi, such as “Crown Prince (太子)” or XJP, are blocked search terms on Sina Weibo. However, netizens have invented others, such as...
China’s Presumptive New Leader Is Mysteriously Absent
Speculation intensified on Monday over the whereabouts of ...
Rumors Swirl as China's Xi Vanishes
Over the last week Mr Xi has cancelled at least four scheduled meetings with visiting dignitaries, including a Russian delegation, the prime minister of Singapore and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last Wednesday, and the prime minister of...
China Faces New Scandal Over Crash of a Ferrari
China’s carefully scripted leadership transition appears to have suffered another glitch: a fatal car crash involving a Ferrari, a privileged son and two women.
Does China's Next Leader Have a Soft Spot for Tibet
Few people know what Xi, whose ascent to the leadership is likely to be approved at a Communist Party congress later this year, thinks of Tibet or the Dalai Lama. But his late father, Xi Zhongxun, a liberal-minded former vice premier, had a close...
Security Suggests Party Congress Is Nearing
Even as Chinese officials have maintained a steady silence on when the Party Congress — the most important meeting in a decade — will be convened, the government has put in place security measures and issued corruption warnings — the first...
Sinica Podcast
08.10.12
The Chairman
from Sinica PodcastTen years after his elevation to General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Hu Jintao remains almost as much of an enigma now as he was on first taking power. What do we know about the man beyond his reputation as a somewhat robotic...
Party Bristles at Military’s Push for More Sway in China
With China’s once-a-decade leadership transition only months away, the party is pushing back with a highly visible campaign against disloyalty and corruption, even requiring all officers to report financial assets.
China Keeps Up Block on Bloomberg Site
Bloomberg’s news website remains blocked by China’s state censors a full month after it detailed the riches amassed by the family of Xi Jinping, the man who is expected to be the country’s next president. Although periodic outages of...
Media
06.30.12
Bloomberg Unearths Xi Jinping’s Family Fortune
A recent Bloomberg report detailing the millionaire assets of the extended family of Xi Jinping, China’s presumptive next leader, has drawn praise...
Prospects for Solidarity in the Xi Jinping Leadership
China Leadership Monitor
It may be true, as is often observed, that if all the world’s economists were laid end to end, they would never reach a conclusion. It is all the more notable, therefore, that an increasing number of observers of China’s economy are skeptical...
Leadership Transition and the “Top-Level Design” of Economic Reform
China Leadership Monitor
As China’s 18th Party Congress looms, it is clear that we are now in the thick of transition. The impending transition creates uncertainty about China’s future, but it also opens up new possibilities. Already, the discussion of economic policies...
Sinica Podcast
02.24.12
Journey to the West
from Sinica PodcastThis week on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn are pleased to host Ed Wong from The New York Times, along with Adrienne Mong, whom you’ve seen on NBC News. First up is Xi Jinping’s recent visit to the United States, and a closer...
Liu Yuan: Archetype of a “Xi Jinping Man” in the PLA?
China Leadership Monitor
Liu Yuan and Xi Jinping clearly share a great deal in common. Both were born to senior CCP cadres, and are members of the elite “princelings” cohort. Yet both men’s fathers were subjected to purge and mistreatment during the late Mao era, and...
The NYRB China Archive
08.22.11
China’s ‘Liberation’ of Tibet: Rules of the Game
from New York Review of BooksMuch of the talk about Vice President Joe Biden’s four-day visit to China last week centered on the man who hosted him: Xi Jinping, expected to become the country’s next president in 2012. Biden’s office has said that the principal purposes of...
Sinica Podcast
12.10.10
The Wikileaks Revelations, Part III
from Sinica PodcastAs Interpol deepens its investigation into Mr. Assange’s use of birth control and financial service companies feel the wrath of script-kiddies worldwide, our own crew of Internet vigilantes sifts through the remains of the Wikileaks data-dump in...