China Policy Institute Blog
Seeking truth about the anti-rightist campaign: the Zhu Yufu view of history
May 16, 2013
Written by Jackie Sheehan. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences vice-director Li Shenming’s article in Seeking Truth, the CCP’s theoretical journal, has caused a stir in China for his assertion that “not a single person was persecuted” in the anti-rightist campaign of the late 1950s. Li acknowledges that 550,000 people were “labelled as rightists”, but apparently does …
The Arab Spring, Israel and China
May 8, 2013
Written by Niv Horesh. As anti-government protests spread across the Arab world from Tunis to Riyadh in 2010-11, an instinctive gush of euphoria seemed to have gripped large quarters of Western media and liberal circles. At last, many believed, the masses would shake off the shackles of corrupt regimes that had long oppressed them, and …
See of troubles
April 29, 2013
Written by Jackie Sheehan. Choosing the successor to one of China’s best-known Catholic bishops will provide an early test of relations between Beijing and the Vatican under Pope Francis The death on Saturday of 97-year-old Aloysius Jin Luxian, the Catholic Bishop of Shanghai, highlights one of the trickier issues in the in-tray of Pope Francis: …
Corruption and China’s New Leadership
March 21, 2013
By Andrew Hall Wedeman. In the run up to China’s once a decade leadership change, the Chinese Communist Party faced renewed pressures to address corruption. Prior to the 18th Party Congress in November 2012, two scandals had rocked the country. In February 2011, Railway Minister Liu Zhijun was sacked and taken into party custody in …
Premier Li Keqiang’s many challenges
March 18, 2013
By Willy Lam. Li Keqiang, China’s first “Ph.D. premier,” was confirmed as head of the State Council, or central government, at the recently concluded National People’s Congress held in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. The fact that the 57-year-old Anhui native garnered 99.69% of the support of the 3,000 parliamentarians seems to show that …
The Honeymoon now begins to end
March 15, 2013
By Zhengxu Wang. The new batch of Party leaders is now officially the new cohort of state leaders. At the Lianghui sessions during the last two days, Xi Jinping and other members of the Politburo Standing Committee were “elected” into state offices. As expected, Xi was elected the President, while Li Keqiang was elected Premier. …
The Significance of Three Bows: Wen Jiabao’s final stand
March 12, 2013
By Jun Zhang. The first session of the 12th National People’s Congress opened in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 5, 2013, with Premier Wen Jiabao delivering the government Work Report. It was the 10th and final time he had made such an address. The two-hour long report ended with prolonged …
Reflections on China’s 12th NPC
By Lowell Dittmer. Somewhat like Western democracies, the institutionalization of China’s “People’s Democratic Dictatorship” since the advent of “reform and opening” in December 1978 (i.e. cadre tenure rules, regularly scheduled meeting sessions), Chinas “resilient authoritarianism” has become the focus of public expectations—both hopes and fears—for change among China’s rising civil society. These expectations can now …
History and the 12th NPC: A Critical Juncture
March 11, 2013
By Rana Mitter. When they gathered for the Twelfth National People’s Congress on 5 March, the delegates will have had to reflect on an exciting, but worrying fact: the next decade could be the most important in all of China’s modern history. Although 2012 marked the second passing of the leadership from one generation to …
Stability and People’s Livelihood: The Key Priorities of China’s New Leadership
March 8, 2013
By Shujie Yao. Carefully reading different commentaries and various official documents, it is possible to identify the top policy priorities of China’s new generation leadership. In particular, stability and people’s livelihoods have been mentioned directly and indirectly as the most important policy issues of concern. The ‘two meetings’, or Lianghui (两会), referring to the 12th …
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