Central Asian Bazaars as A Soft Power of Beijing

China has emerged as the key trading partner of Central Asia—an accomplishment that is greatly due to Dordoi Bazaar’s success in the region. However, Beijing still has much work to do in order to improve its public image and shorten its soft power deficit in the Central Asian region.

Kemel Toktomushev Research Fellow, University of Central Asia via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1Nd7OEE

After the Boom

'Development' is often spoken of as an end-in-itself, part of an inevitable march toward progress and modernity. What happens if we pause to take stock of the recent history of this development mantra--and examine who it benefits, who it excludes, and the price China and the United States pay for 'progress'?

Casey Walker Novelist, Instructor at Cooper Union in New York City via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1XLPCqL

Fight Against Terrorism Needs Support from Small Sovereign States

The global community needs the participation of countries where the IS and other terror groups have made their bases, with the help and backing of the broad masses of Muslim people in the region. Outside force has proven to be inadequate to eliminate the violence and the root causes behind it, and serious nation-building is required.

Wu Zurong, Research Fellow, China Foundation for Int'l Studies via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1NtCGUT

Jostling of Two Types of World Orders

Competing visions, one with the UN as its spiritual center and the US counterview with itself at the heart of a unipolar world, are vying to shape the world’s future. The US remains the sole superpower in the world, but its attempt to remain the driving force in global governance is doomed to fail in a changing, multipolar world.

Yin Chengde Research Fellow, China Foundation for Int'l Studies via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1RoKIQL

China’s Online Financial Sector Comes of Age

Last month, China’s leaders revealed details of the 13th Five-Year Plan, which will guide the economy’s trajectory until 2020. Gone are the directives to expand industrial production at a breakneck pace that characterized previous five-year plans. Now, the focus is on achieving sustainable long-term growth, underpinned by domestic consumption, a stronger services sector, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

Liu Mingkang BCT Distinguished Research Fellow, Chinese University of Hong Kong via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1YJtn79

Xi Jinping’s Anti-Corruption Crusade Reaches Africa

Since the 1990’s, Sam Pa subsequently amassed a huge fortune by helping shady African autocrats sell their petroleum and minerals to China. Sam Pa was most of all a source of “rents” for several dozen corrupt politicians and officials in the resource-rich areas of Africa. However, Sam Pa’s arrest last month has put an end to his corruption.

Robert I. Rotberg, Fellow, Woodrow Wilson Int'l Center via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1SvHvx4

China on Course for Capital Account Liberalization

Now that the IMF has made the RMB its fifth reserve currency, new attention is being paid to the risks associated with cross-border capital flow. Managing these risks requires active participation in global governance and rules making, in particular global exchange rate reform, balance of payment adjustment regime, capital flow management and the reform and coordination of monetary and financial policies on a global scale.

Zhang Monan, Researcher, China Int'l Economic Exchanges Center via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1Ttp3Ww