China’s recent history had a fair share of man-made disasters, including the Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution. The few years after the 1949 revolution have always been considered to be a golden period. Wrong, says Frank Dikotter in a recent book, The Tragedy of Liberation. Author Zhang Lijia disagrees with him at the BBC.Read More →
Author Zhang Lijia looked for the BBC World Service back at the Bo Xilai thriller, an event that kept many Chinese glued to their computer screens, mobiles and sometimes even TV-screens. Some of the motives behind an unprecedented open political trial.Read More →
Japan is quietly trying to repair its relationship with China, as it is not longer sure in the cause of a conflict, it will be backed by the United States, writes the Japan Times. Author Howard French analyses how Japan deals with this new uncertainty in international relations.Read More →
When Chinese dissidents moved in the past to the US, whatever influence they had in their home country would fade away. But the blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng is different, discovered author and friend Zhang Lijia in visits to his home town and in calls to the US, she writes in the New York Times. Read More →
As the conflict about the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands heats up yet another time, it is useful to recognized the meaning of the signals Beijing is sending out. Military analyst Wendell Minnick picked up for Defense News some reading tips from Taiwanese Defense experts.Read More →
Military analyst Wendell Minnick discusses in Defense Newsthe emerging US “AirSea Battle doctrine and the so-called Asia Pivot, many in the Asia-Pacific are asking for clarification on a subject that could involve them in an unnecessary war with China.” A review of a paper by Benjamin Schreer, a senior analyst for Defence Strategy at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.Read More →
China has a real first lady, now Peng Liyuan joined president Xi Jinping on his first travels abroad. Author Paul French looks in the Foreign Policy Magazine at the new feature in how China’s leadership is presenting herself to the world. Read More →
Despite North-Korea’s threat to start a nuclear war, new sanctions by the United Nations and heated debates in Beijing, a serious change of China’s attitude towards its unruly neighbor seems not at the agenda, writes defense analyst Wendell Minnick in Defense News.Read More →
Economic and political reforms have to go hand in hand, economist Arthur Kroeber argued at a forum on the new leadership in China, organized by the state-run Global Times on Tuesday. In a summary by the Global Times.Read More →
China and the US restart very soon their trade talks, traditionally marred by US complaints on how China manipulates its currency. Now, rising protectionism by state-owned companies offer a new stumbling block, says business analyst Shaun Rein at the BBC.Read More →
The famous singer Peng Liyuan was more popular than her husband,the upcoming president Xi Jinping. She could use that popularity as China’s first lady, but author Zhang Lijia estimates those chances are limited, as women are not welcome in China’s power houses, she tells The National. Read More →
The Uyghur, the minority in western China, have very little impact on the US agenda towards China, says former China correspondent and journalism professor Howard French on the website of UNPO.org.Read More →