Francis Fukuyama Talks To China About The Sorry State Of American Democracy

In this premiere episode of a new Chinese Youku series produced by Guancha.cn, Shanghai scholar/entrepreneur Eric X. Li talks with political scientist Francis Fukuyama about his latest book: “Political Order and Political Decay.” Francis Fukuyama is well known for the thesis of his seminal post-Cold War book, “The End of […]



Mandy Peng via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1BZqIrF

Lee Kuan Yew: A Towering Inspiration for China

Singapore’s record of rising from the ashes serves as a source of inspiration to China. The similarity of governance between Singapore and modern China has received mixed commentary, including some critical, but Lee Kuan Yew and his successors stood ground and, arguably, have prevailed.



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America Needs More Domestic Consensus on Issues in the International System

The U.S. Congress’ inability to pass fair IMF reforms is partly responsible for China’s creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). While the U.S. is not at the center of this newly created institution. America still has time to develop the consensus in Congress to strike a balance between America’s leadership in the international system and the demand of others to have enough space, not only to survive in the system, but also to prosper.



Wang Wenfeng, Associate Professor, CICIR via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1MrhOPb

China’s Ivory Trade

A year-long “temporary” halt to ivory trade outside China is a hopeful, if symbolic, move to end attacks on elephants and rhinoceroses. A coalition of celebrities, politicians, and environmentalists put pressure on Xi Jinping to ban the import of ivory, but current regulations are flouted daily. The movement of ivory must be complete and permanent to fully stop the underground trade.



Robert I. Rotberg, Fellow, Woodrow Wilson Int'l Center via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1EnHoAt

Conflicting Views on Global Governance between China and the U.S.

Ramses Amer compares the diplomatic views and policies of the U.S. with those of China to shed light on the future their interaction. Wide differences exist in their justification for the use of force in inter-state relations; an unlikely but cooperative solution would be for the U.S. to conform more to the UN Charter and principle of non-interference, as China has.



Ramses Amer Associated Fellow, Institute for Security & Development Policy, Sweden via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1DiC0Pa

What the AIIB Means for the US-China Power Transition

As AIIB awaits its official commencement later in 2015, more members are set to join. The new bank will China give the chance to have an more important role than it has been offered in other U.S.-led financial institutions. Yet, why all the media furor over a new regional bank? […]



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China, Russia Consider a Return to Six-Party Talks

On Wednesday, the Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement noting that the top nuclear envoys of both China and Russia met in Beijing on Tuesday to discuss a possible resumption of the Six-Party Talks on North Korea’s nuclear program. Wu Dawei, China’s top diplomat focused on nuclear affairs, and his […]



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China is the New Broker in the Persian Gulf

For much of its history, China has made a point of steering clear of other countries’ internal affairs. But that changed late last year, when the Middle Kingdom entered into the international arena in a way it hadn’t before, offering both money and military might to fight the terrors of […]



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China’s War on Pollution is Gaining Traction

Beijing just announced that it will close the last of its four major coal-fired power plants in 2016, avoiding an estimated 30 million tons of carbon. This welcome step, carried out as part of China’s national Air Pollution Action Plan, is the latest evidence that China is putting teeth into […]



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Will Chinese Currency Policies Change Directions After An Interest Rate Cut?

The Chinese central bank just announced that it will cut interest rates, but the market is more concerned about whether this means China is officially in the sweeping global game of quantitative easing. The Chinese central bank is now in a monetary policy dilemma: It is neither willing to embark on the track of excessive quantitative easing, nor ready to tighten currency policies. Instead, it is returning to neutrality, which doesn’t mean an orientation change in its monetary policies.



Yi Xianrong, Researcher, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1F0bKq5

Another U.S.-China Summit: An Opportunity to Be Grasped

President Xi Jinping will visit Washington D.C. in September, providing an essential opportunity for the two leaders to openly discuss bilateral relations, investment, and global issues. David Shambaugh calls on Chinese leaders to engage in action over slogans, and for each side to share their perceptions of the strategic intentions of the other; false perceptions must be discussed and refuted in order to reinvigorate mutual trust.



David Shambaugh, Professor, George Washington University via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1IBvwJI

The Maritime Silk Road— 1405 and 2013

In October 2013, during a visit to Indonesia, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the launching of the New 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, just one month after announcing the New Silk Road Economic Belt, while on a visit to Kazakhstan. These two initiatives, followed in 2014 by the plan to […]



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“One Belt and One Road”, Far-reaching Initiative

The “One Belt and One Road” initiative concerns 65 countries and 4.4 billion people and is China’s most important and strategic initiative. As the Middle East and Europe faces social, political, and economic turbulence, China invites all major economies to join this endeavor to improve infrastructure and trade throughout the world. Increasingly, China’s development is inseparable from the world; and world’s stability and prosperity are inseparable from China.



Mandy Peng via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1BqBbxi

China to Open Space Station in Argentina

The first Chinese space station outside of its territory will open in Argentina in 2016 – a logical place for a satellite communication station located on the opposite side of the globe as China. Notably, China and Argentina have strengthened bilateral relations over the past few years through increased trade and loans. While the U.S. has historically remained out of favor, this development has alerted some U.S. officials.



Walker Rowe, Publisher, Southern Pacific Review via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1HJGmwf

China’s new development bank bodes poorly for the U.S.

THE OBAMA administration suffered a foreign policy setback last week when three European allies — Germany, France and Italy — decided to join a fourth, Britain, as shareholders in a new Chinese-sponsored multilateral development agency for Asia. When Beijing first proposed the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in 2013, Washington […]



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Good news: China’s bad debts are on the rise

Chinese banks’ bad news is good news. Agricultural Bank of China reported a 28 percent increase in bad loans over the last six months of 2014, as its earnings rose a measly 2 percent year-on-year. The rise in distress signals at the giant lender looks modest compared with what’s happening […]



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Give China a Reserve Currency

As former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell famously advised, China favors “overwhelming force” in its campaigns, military or otherwise. Most recently, in a direct challenge to the global economic architecture established by the U.S. and its allies after World War II, Beijing has pledged nearly $200 billion to various […]



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What to Expect From India-China Border Talks in the Modi-Xi Era

India and China will hold direct negotiations about their border dispute this week — the first such talks since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in India’s general elections last May. Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval are meeting this week, just […]



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China and Non-Proliferation: Progress at Last?

China’s implementation of non-proliferation controls has been subject to intense and ongoing criticism from the West since the 1970s. However, China’s non-proliferation commitments have gradually expanded over the decades, with implementation following behind, albeit with a substantial lag. There are signs that a tipping point may have been reached but […]



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Allies of convenience: China’s Xi Jinping’s just not that into Vladimir Putin

Much has been written about the relationship between China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, largely making the case that theirs is a close personal relationship, based on their similarities. One publication went so far as to assert that “Xi is China’s Putin.” As much fun as this bromance theory […]



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For A Real Cross-Cultural Connection, Look to Art

Hannah Lincoln describes the initial challenges of understanding Chinese political opinions and forming an identity as a U.S. citizen living in China. After reading and imagining Bei Dao and Li Tuo’s experiences in The 70s《70年代》a sense of shared spirit was stirred. Art, literature, and cinema are the entry points to a meaningful relationship and understanding of China.



Hannah Lincoln from China Youthology via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1GhCtAh

Impacts of China’s New Counter-Terrorism Law on Sino-U.S. Relations

China’s controversial new anti-terrorism law would require foreign companies to install “backdoors” to give authorities remote access to computers and networks, and has been placed under review due to Western concerns. Since China still has to rely on foreign technology in the immediate future, the law might have been used to tell the United States government not to engage in what Beijing called “reckless behavior,” or to further expose U.S. hypocrisy in its own cyber espionage practices.



Franz-Stefan Gady Senior Fellow, EastWest Institute via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1Ghq4fC

China’s Anti-Terrorism Law Is Nothing to Worry About

China’s new anti-terror laws are in response to changing transnational terrorist networks and are intended to designate agencies responsible for anti-terror activities while defining the obligations of the state, society, enterprises, and individual citizens. U.S. IT companies are concerned that increased security and oversight will affect business operations, but Fu Xiaoqiang reminds that this is not unseen in U.S. law either.



Fu Xiaoqiang, Director, Center for Counter-terrorism Studies, CICIR via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1HAArJV

Is It Time to Rebalance China’s Latin American Portfolio?

As Li Keqiang wrapped up the National People’s Congress in Beijing, Fernando Menedez reviews the investment outlook between Latin America and China, noting that China is likely shift away from total volume of investments to a greater emphasis on their productivity and sustainability.



Fernando Menéndez, Principal, Cordoba Group Int'l LLC via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1HxvrJn

Time’s Ripe for China, U.S, to Optimize the Asia-Pacific Economic and Security Structure

Economic and security structures in the Asia-Pacific region have shown a trend of changes towards the “dual-track structure” between U.S.-led allies and Chinese-led allies. It is imperative for China and the U.S. to optimize strengthen their complementary features, rather than maintain a bipolar and competitive nature, so as to ensure development and security in the Asia-Pacific region. Zhai Kun provides four suggestions to achieve this.



Zhai Kun Professor, Peking University via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1bprycc

China’s Trans-Atlantic Wedge

China’s rise is no longer a regional phenomenon that primarily impacts Asia. It is a global force, putting pressure on alliances that underpin the liberal international order. Nowhere is this more true than in trans-Atlantic relations. China has just convinced America’s closest European allies to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment […]



Foreign Policy via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1HuJGhT

History Debate on Display at Rare China-Japan-South Korea Meeting

China, Japan, and South Korea held their highest-level trilateral meeting in almost three years on Saturday. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, and South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se met in Seoul on March 21 for the first trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting since April 2012. In […]



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China’s world bank has rickety foundations

If any country knows about the risks and rewards of building infrastructure, it is China. Over the past two decades, the People’s Republic has erected countless roads, dams, power plants, bridges and airports in its pursuit of economic development. The result has been a surge in debt, waste, corruption and […]



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China, Russia and the Tussle for Influence in Kazakhstan

Until recently, Central Asia played only a modest role in world politics, a reflection of its economic weakness, domestic problems, and distrust of integration. Russia’s presence in the region as the primary political mediator and economic partner was incontestable. In the last few years, though, China’s growing economic interest in […]



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China Declares War on Pollution

The air in China is so bad that it is impossible to ignore. It is the first thing one notices upon landing in most Chinese cities when arriving from abroad. It determines whether or not people are willing to go outside. It is something that is monitored within the country […]



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Leaving Jilin with Teacher Plumblossom

For three years, Micheal Meyer rented a home in the rice-farming community of Wasteland, Jilin, hometown to his wife's family. Their personal saga mirrors the tremendous change most of rural China is undergoing, in the form of a privately held rice company that has built new roads, introduced organic farming, and constructed high-rise apartments into which farmers can move in exchange for their land rights.



Michael Meyer Author via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1G3uXZV

Why the PLA Has Revealed That It Is Planning for Cyber War

Much has been made about the explicit acknowledgement of cyber-warfare forces within the People’s Liberation Army. Yet these revelations are neither groundbreaking nor constitute a formal strategic doctrine for cyber or military applications of information technology in the event of war. More interesting is the insights it yields in what appears to be a comprehensive Chinese “whole nation” approach to conducting cyber war, something that experts have suspected for many years.



Franz-Stefan Gady Senior Fellow， EastWest Institute via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1OpW2dd

Messages from the NPC on China’s Diplomacy in 2015

The Third Session of the 12th National People’s Congress delivered a “Report on the Work of the Government.” Notable advancement was made in conducting economic diplomacy with the Silk Road Economic Belt, 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and Silk Road Fund. More significant openness to the outside world and expanded economic diplomacy are priorities of diplomatic work in 2015.



Chen Xiangyang, Deputy Director, CICIR via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1Ij3m66

Unveiled: China’s New Naval Base in the South China Sea

Recent reports talk about China’s possible establishment of a “fourth” naval fleet with jurisdiction over the Indian Ocean region (IOR), joining the existing North Sea Fleet, East Sea Fleet, and South Sea Fleet. This mysterious fourth fleet will supposedly be based on Hainan Island—even though the island falls under the […]



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Why Do People Keep Predicting China’s Collapse?

The temptation to make predictions about China is probably irresistible, because it is arguably the most important contemporary case in international relations. Thus, a few Western observers have risked their professional reputations by acting as prophets. Perhaps the most (in)famous is Gordon Chang, who published The Coming Collapse of China […]



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China’s Place in the New World Economic Order

Competition between the world’s two greatest economic powers is both inevitable and (for the most part) beneficial. This is the case even when China and the U.S. are arguing over control of increasingly obsolescent international financial institutions. China’s effort to start the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank grows more popular […]



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China Trounces U.S. ‘Smart Power’

The Obama Administration has advertised that by using “smart power” it would enhance U.S. influence around the world. So it’s worth noting an episode in which China is routing the U.S. in economic diplomacy. Beijing has never made a secret of its belief in checkbook politics, and in recent years […]



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U.S. Allies, Lured by China’s Bank

The Obama administration, to its embarrassment, has been spurned by Western allies flocking to a China-led Asian development bank, defying White House pleas to stand back. In a surprise announcement last week, Britain said it would become the first Western nation to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a potential […]



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Washington’s paranoia has a clear purpose

Many know that Washington has been suffering from serious dysfunction, as was reflected in the latest Gallup poll in which Americans said the government was the US’ No 1 problem, but few realize that the symptoms of paranoia are worse. On Tuesday, at the Atlantic Council, a think tank in […]



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Sino-Russian ties driven by complementarity

The Sino-Russian relationship is a model of friendly ties between major powers after the end of the Cold War. The two sides have been through four stages since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which are regarding each other as “friendly countries,” constructive partnership, strategic partnership of coordination, and the […]



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AIIB embodies new major power relations

US Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew on Tuesday urged Congress to approve an agreement to reform the IMF. The agreement, which was reached in 2010, has been passed by many countries since then except the US, as the reform plans are believed to step on the interests of some […]



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Washington Should Admonish Abe’s Talk

Abe must understand – and the U.S. should exert pressure on him – that the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II is prime time for him to profoundly reflect on Japan’s wartime crimes. If Abe goes too far in the wrong direction, there will be no peace in the Asia-Pacific and the hard-won beginning of a Sino-Japanese détente may vanish.



Feng Zhaokui, Honorary Academician, CASS via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1H9EEaF

Athens’ Long Walls and China’s A2AD Securitization

The question of Thucydides trap has become a classic in Sino-US relations to explain the rising military securitization. For the past five years China has attempted to develop state-of-the-art A2AD capabilities to secure its periphery, and the U.S. has called for a maritime version of NATO to ensure U.S. conventional offensive advantage over China. Trigkas argues the relevance of Thucydides today in teaching that we must utilize the creative forces of humans towards the Epicurian or the Confucian Good life and not towards supremacy.



Vasilis Trigkas Vsiting Research Fellow, Tsinghua University via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1MOPPpx

Why the US Should Worry About Russia, Not China

Last Friday, the United States released its updated Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower (CS-21). One of the biggest critiques of the first Cooperative Strategy concentrated on the difficulty of fitting China and Russia into the “cooperative” frame. China continues to expand its navy and has obviously undertaken a set […]



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A Moment of Truth for the People’s Liberation Army

The last three decades have been relatively easy for China’s defense planners. But its economy is stagnating and its security environment is deteriorating. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA), China’s military, will face some tough choices. Decades of double-digit budget increases have allowed it to concentrate on building what Beijing most […]



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China’s Resentment Problem

When China’s leaders look at the outside world, what do they feel? Admiration? Love? Envy? Perhaps even pity or arrogance? From time to time, Chinese leaders sound like they shared all of these different attitudes. Even something as seemingly insignificant as Premier Li Keqiang going out of his way to […]



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China’s capital flight lands on New York doorsteps

As crunchy vignettes in U.S.-China relations go, it’s hard to beat the moment in 1979 when President Jimmy Carter pressed Deng Xiaoping to let Chinese people emigrate more freely. “If you want me to release 10 million Chinese to come to the United States,” the paramount leader offered, “I’d be […]



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ASEAN Patrols in the South China Sea?

Earlier this week, the commander of the U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet made headlines when he suggested that ASEAN countries could cooperate to form a maritime force to patrol areas of the South China Sea. According to Bloomberg, Vice Admiral Robert Thomas said on Tuesday at the Langkawi International Maritime and […]



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People-to-People Diplomacy in China-Japan Relations

International relations are traditionally conducted by national leaders, government officials, and diplomats. The power of citizen exchanges, or “people-to-people diplomacy,” is often underestimated. People-to-people diplomacy, as part of public diplomacy, complements traditional and formal diplomacy. It has a significant impact on relations between nations since bilateral relations are not sustainable […]



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China Targets Big Oil Wars on Corruption, Pollution

What do China’s “war on pollution” and campaign against corruption have in common? They’ve both placed China’s coal and oil empires in their crosshairs, and they’re firing away. Over the past two years anti-corruption squads have investigated dozens of high-ranking officials in coal and oil bureaucracies, with the latest detention […]



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