100 posts
Chinese hard-line security policies will lead to social unrest
I’ve just come across a speech by Yu Jianrong on 26 December 2009. Professor Yu is director of social issues research at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and advises top leaders – clearly an insider. What he said is disturbing – and sur...
China Trip
Blog Blackout It's my fault that there's been a blog blackout during my trip to China. These are written - sorry - on the plane. Shanghai Expo The UK pavilion, also known as the Dandelion (so named by China's netizens), is a...
Heavy-handed propaganda alienates Europeans from China
The following interview appeared in Global Times on 15 March 2010: Editor’s Note: China constantly complains of being misperceived by the West, but how much of that is China’s own fault? Do Europeans still see China through an ideologica...
Will US declare China a “currency manipulator”?
The US Treasury, in its semi-annual report delivered every April and October, can formally label China as a “currency manipulator” on account of the yuan’s substantial undervalue. This would allow the Department of Commerce to impose counterv...
Europe 2020 - USA 2015 - China Now?
It's not fair to compare the US and the EU system, but the world isn't fair. While the EU thinks in 10 year terms, US president Obama has proposed a five year plan to double US exports in 5 years. If Obama doesn't get his country on track over the...
Well that basically makes it all rather academic
China's chief climate change negotiator rather makes everybody else redundent by announcing that China has no intention of hamstringing its economy due to the fashionable green whims of the West.China "could not and should not" set an upper limit on...
The Chinese Confucian Party?
Daniel Bell, in the Globe and Mail of 19 February 2010 wrote an interesting article about the revival of Confucianism. Only recently, the Chinese Communist Party approved a film about Confucius, starring the handsome leading man Chow Yun-Fat. Bell
The future of Carbon Intensity in China’s Economy
Being now the largest CO2 emitter in the world, China’s actions toward climate change are particularly important to reduce GHG emissions at the global level. The recent announced target to reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 40 to 45% by...
We all need China to succeed and to start leading
With the above words, Peter Mandelson, former EU Trade Commissioner and now UK First Secretary of State, concludes a perceptive op-ed in today’s New York Times. Lord Mandelson identifies a mismatch between our expectations of China and China’s o...
China’s deteriorating international relations
China’s influence on the world stage steadily increases but European media reporting remains generally prejudiced against China. This is probably due to two main factors. First, bad news makes good news in the news world. Second, there are...
China’s Challenge to American hegemony
Chas W. Freeman Jr spoke to the Global Strategy Forum on 20 January 2010 on the mounting speculation about China’s emergence as a global hegemon to rival and, perhaps in time, surpass the United States. This is the thrust of what he said: The US
Chinese New Year Greeting
TO ALL CHINESE READERS This last year was an extremely difficult one for all of us. China has performed extraordinarily well economically in the global recession, which has helped see the acceleration of the trend of economic and financial grav...
China Brings EU to WTO over Shoes
China has complained to the World Trade Organization about anti-dumping duties imposed by the European Union on shoes made in China. China says that the EU has “violated various obligations under the W.T.O., and consequently caused damage to the le...
Revisiting China arms embargo
France and Germany sought the lifting of the EU arms embargo in 2004 but Washington insisted on the embargo being maintained. The embargo was lifted against Uzbekistan last October, despite continuing concerns about human rights in the central Asia...
Rumours, Rumours, But No Greek Bond Sales To China
Well there certainly is a lot happening out there at the moment. And Monday’s successful bond sale which left the Greek government triumphally proclaiming they could comfortably meet their 2010 borrowing program now seems to belong to a lifetim...
Google vs. Chinese censorship: What are the trade options for the US government
Following the much-anticipated speech by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's on Internet freedoms last week, there is intense pressure on the US government to launch a case at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against China over its Internet censors...
A wake up call
European Commission policy-makers believe EU leaders are finally seeing things with clearer eyes. The financial crisis and its after-effects, China’s growing economic and political assertiveness, and globalization, have finally brought home to memb...
Google officially changes attitude towards China censorship
A new approach to China from The Official Google Blog Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infr...
Does Europe need a Strategy for China?
The European Union is the second largest economy in the world, but does it have a global economic strategy? 10 years after the creation of the euro, there is little evidence for it. Policymakers are more concerned with protecting narrow domestic adva...
Chinese exports rebound, +17.7%, in December 2009
China's exports rebound, rising to $130.7bn, in December 2009, up 17.7% when compared with December 2008!Total exports in 2009 were $1.2tn, -16% that of 2008 and imports were $1.01tn, down 11.2% from 2008, resulting in a total trade surplus of $196.
China’s trade with US decreases in importance
James Kynge in today’s Financial Times disputes the received wisdom that, with the collapse in US consumer demand, China has no alternative but to increase domestic demand. He argues that the huge increase in China’s trade with south-east Asia a...
Uyghurs must have fair trial
Statement by Graham Watson MEP on the extradition of twenty Uyghurs from Cambodia to China and their need for a fair trial...
Stormy weather ahead for China?
China has so far weathered the financial and economic storms remarkably well. Despite problems in Tibet and Xinjiang, the CCP remains in control and legitimate in the eyes of most Chinese. The country’s influence on the world stage steadily incre...
A new case of denied rights in China
(The Great Firewall of China-Information-FILTRATION NATION Shangay, China Photo by: lifemage / Flickr) China announced this morning at 10.30am local time (2.30 am in England) the execution by lethal injection of a British citizen of Pakistani origin...
Akmal Shaikh
I oppose capital punishment in all circumstances. Along with every EU country it is banned in Britain. But not every country agrees. That's their prerogative. But Ivan Lewis spoke well today when he talked about the particular...
Notes on the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline
A ceremony at the beginning of this week to mark the apparent opening of a...
China’s Looming Demographic Problem Moves Steadily Up Over The Radar
As Israeli blogger “Nobody” points out for us,the Economist has been giving increasing coverage to global demographic issues of late, and this week it is China’s problem that has caught their eye. As the Economist point out, the im...
We must all plead for the life of Akmal Shaikh
“We are begging the Chinese authorities to show compassion…and mercy. Basically I’m here begging for his life to be spared” – Akbar Shaikh, brother of Akmal Shaikh. A mentally ill man who first showed signs of probable b...
An insecure China
Tightened domestic security this year was understandable, in the light of the Uighur unrest in Xinjiang province, the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen and the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. However, the signs are that security is being p...
More fuel for the protectionist fire
My post of 2 December expressed concern about growing protectionism and China’s contribution to this. China published a circular on 15 November, establishing “an Indigenous Innovation Product Accreditation system”. To be eligible for public...
China: Economic Superpower or Free Rider?
According to popular lore, China is on the cusp of assuming the mantle of global economic leadership from the United States. In the minds of many folks, the U.S.-led global financial crisis-cum-global recession is hard and indisputable evidence of...
China’s exchange rate policy
Martin Wolf, China, renminbi/RMB, protectionism Martin Wolf, in todays’ Financial Times considers unfair Premier Wen Jiabao’s statement last week at the end of the China-EU summit, that: “Some countries on the one hand want the renmimbi to...
Human rights in China: a still open discussion
EU-China's relationship hold an important role in global affairs and international relations particularly for what concern economical issues. Popular Republic of China (REP) has had the fastest economical growth for the past 30 years and is nowada...
China-EU summit: reflections
The 12th China-EU summit unusually took place, not in Beijing but in Nanjing, on 30 November. The Chinese delegation was led by Premier Wen Jiabao; the EU by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden, President of the European Council and Commissi...
Russia’s Chinese neighbourhood
I recently spoke at the Sino-European forum co-organised by ECFR/Centre Asie and CICIR about the EU-Russia-China triangle. While thinking about the non-existent triangle I ran into the proceedings of another ‘strategic dialogue’ – between Russi...
The EU's view of China
A little while ago I gave a talk in Hong Kong on the EU’s view of China. This is what I had to say. The EU views China with a combination of awe, ignorance, fear, confusion and ambition. It is awed by China’s rise. It is largely ignorant of Chin...
Trilateral China-EU-US relationship
Set out below is my contribution to the debate, organized by the Forum for American/Chinese exchange at Stanford, at Peking University in 19 November 2009 in China-EU-US trilateral relations. We have been asked to address six questions: But first,...
The EU and China: Time for a Change?
The following paper, written with Dr Kerry Brown Senior Fellow, Asia Programme, Chatham House, has been published as an Asia Programme Paper: ASP PP 2009/03 by the Royal Insitute of International Affairs: The views expressed in this document are the...
China fuels rise in protectionism
“Some countries on the one hand want the renmimbi to appreciate, but on the other hand engage in brazen protectionism against China. This is unfair. Their measures are a restriction on China’s development.” Why did Chinese Premier Wen Jia...
Russia’s vs China’s rise
President Medvedev published his draft proposal for a European Security Treaty. The driving idea behind the proposal is a desire to revise the European security order of post-Cold war Europe, as well as to start solidifying Russia’s long-desire...
Lifting arms embargo on China
Crossick: Lifting arms embargo can break EU-China stalemate Published: Friday 27 November 2009 Euractiv: Although the EU will enter today’s (30 November) EU-China summit with a revamped outlook provided by the Lisbon Treaty, no major turn...
EU-China: reflections & recommendations
After more than two weeks in China, and a third visit in two months, I offer a number of reflections and recommendations, including on developing the so-called “strategic partnership”. EU-China relationship This is best characterised as...
Life & Development International Forum
This forum was held in Hangzhou, from 8 to 10 November 2009, organized by the Europe Research Centre of Zhejiang University and sponsored by the Hangzhou municipality. This was an impressive, demonstrating a clear desire by the municipality to impr...
China & EU: tackling global challenges
The following are my closing remarks at the 6th China-EU Think Tank Roundtable in Changzhou on 21-22 October 2009: We have had a rich and fruitful discussion facilitated by excellent time discipline. Underpinning all discussions was the search for...
Meeting with Wen Jiabao
During the “Forum on China-EU Partnership” in Beijing on 20 November 2009, sponsored by the Chinese government (see post of 27 November), the European scholars, led by former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, met Premier Wen Jiabao for...
Forum on China-EU Strategic Partnership 19-20 November
The prime question is: why did Beijing choose to hold such a major event? The decision was only taken in late September. There were some 200 delegates and another 100 observers. The Chinese official line-up was impressive, including Li Keqiang,...
China is coming
Europe.viewLooking eastwards, even furtherNov 19th 2009From Economist.comCould China fill a power vacuum in eastern Europe?AS THE countries of eastern Europe bump nervously between a near-neutralist Germany, a revisionist Russia and an absent-minded...
China’s Myanmar dilemma
I also commend to you the International Crisis Group’s report of 14 September 2009, the key conclusions of which are summarized below: • Beijing has pushed its neighbour to undertake political reforms, but not in the way the West would like. •...
China’s new assertive foreign policy
“Bide time, conceal capabilities, but do some things. “China should adopt a low profile and never take the lead.” Deng Xiaoping’s famous foreign policy axioms were apparently modified, as result of China’s 11th Ambassadorial Conference in...
China and EU: tackling global challenges
The following are my concluding remarks at the 6th China-EU Think Tank Roundtable (CIIS-EPC) held in Changzhou, PRC on 21-22 October 2009: We have had a rich and fruitful discussion facilitated by excellent time discipline. Underpinning all...
Chinese government will provide Romania a grant of 500,000 euros
China is continuing its offensive on the Eastern European front. Thus, after the huge financial loan to Moldova Republic, the Chinese government will provide Romania a grant of 500,000 euros for projects in the field of agriculture and small and me...
Improving the trade climate with China - a few musings
If the EU wants to achieve market opening results with China, it will need to take the lead and be ready to restrain its antidumping practices.
China - EU strategic partnership: state of play
Introduction This is a revised version of the paper delivered to the FUDAN CES/IFRI/SIES/CSEUS roundtable in Shanghai on 24 September 2009. It has been revised in the light of discussions at the roundtable and in Beijing with senior Chinese governm...
Eight ideas behind China’s success
Professor Zhang Wei-Wei, in an op-ed published in the New York Times on 30 September, on the eve of the 60th anniversary celebrations, offers eight ideas which have enabled China to change within one generation from a poverty-stricken country to one...
Obtaining a Schengen visa in China
There appears to be some misunderstandings over the issuing of a single visa in China to include all the Schengen area countries. This post clarifies the position. • If a visa is granted by any Schengen area country, it is automatically valid in...
China’s 60th anniversary celebrations: a spectacle rivalling the Olympics
I had the good fortune to be in Beijing on 1 October and witnessed the parade and evening gala concert. Only superlatives do justice to the quality and organisation of the events, which involved perhaps 250 000 participants. Contrary to what a numb...
A “Gorbachev moment” in European-Chinese relations?
In December 1984 western governments detected the first signs of potentially far-reaching change in the Soviet Union when Mikhail Gorbachev, three months before he took over as Communist party leader, went on a trip to London. Gorbachev greatly im...
Europe too suspicious of China’s climate change policies
According to an opinion poll, more than half of Denmark’s population has little or no confidence that world leaders will strike an agreement on fighting climate change at December’s landmark United Nations summit in Copenhagen. It is...
Is China trying to screw the EU?
Is this WTO complaint taken by China against the EU regarding the importation of screws the first sign of an increasingly aggrssive Chinese attitude towards the EU regarding trade? With China being the only major economy with postive economic growth,...
China struggles to apply its own unique version of internal revaluation
Dropped into today’s IMF press releases is a brief account of the IMF board discussion of China’s annual economic surveillance report by the IMF staff. The trick word here is “annual”. Unlike most countries where there is...
Chinese Growth
I spoke on Thursday to the high level Chinese delegation studying at Cambridge for two weeks. They wanted to talk about "win-wins" on trade, climate and financial regulation. They also wanted me to know about the rebound of Chin...
‘Buy Chinese’: is China fuelling protectionism?
A joint statement was issued on 26 May (but not posted until 4 June) by nine ministries and government agencies: the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the legislative office of the State Council, the ministries of industry and in...
Chinese transparency
Last week, a People’s Daily editorial asserted that “Information transparency is of benefit to increasing public trust in the government.” How right this is, but unfortunately this is not being sufficiently heeded in China. This applies bot...
China, Internet Censorship and Trade Law
Recent campaigns by governments in Iran and China to shut down access to websites have heightened international conflicts over online censorship. For ages undemocratic governments have stifled freedom of speech to exert greater control of opposition...
Chinese Growing Pains - Problems for the US and the World
As attempts to elevate the US-Chinese bilateral relationship get underway through the creation of a G-2 to address global problems such as the international financial crisis, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and climate change, it is...
The Great Firewall of China blocks the blogosphere
The Lobby has learnt that in the last few hours China has blocked access to content sharing platforms such as YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, or Tumblr, most probably using their Golden Shield Project firewall. Blogs hosted by WordPress or Blogger have...
Fighting corruption in China: use the press!
The media (in this case one paper) have recently exposed the activities of dozens of members of the UK Parliament in claiming expenses, in some cases fraudulently, and in other cases against the spirit of rules set by themselves. The exposure of the...
Climate change, trade top agenda at EU-China summit
A vigorous debate on carbon emissions is expected as European and Chinese leaders meet for a high-level summit in Prague 20 May. Protectionism and the EU's yawning trade deficit with China are also expected to feature high on the agenda. READ MO...
EU-China summit six months later
Today’s EU-China summit, set to take place in Prague, was initially postponed from last December. China delayed the summit at the time in order to protest against French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s agreement to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama. T...
EU-China: the importance of good communication
The second EU-China High Level Economic & Trade Dialogue (HLD) ended today in Brussel. A debriefing will be posted next week. The Financial Times published an op-ed today by the leader of the Chinese delegation, Vice-Premier Wang Qishan,...
Summary of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China
The post of 30 April asked whether the National Human Rights Action Plan of China is rhetoric or reality. Below is a summary of the main reforms, bearing in mind that the document exceeds 21 000 words. I. Guarantee of Economic, Social and...
National Human Rights Action Plan of China: rhetoric or reality?
The first National Human Rights Action Plan of China has just been published for the period 2009-2010. What are the motivations behind publication? Is this a genuine attempt to improve human rights in China or just intended to show that officials...
Timothy Garton Ash on foreign reporting and China
A world in crisis demands nations understand each other. At least the BBC is hoisting the banner of Deng Xiaoping thoughtOne complaint I heard during a recent stay in China is that western media give a distorted picture of what's happening there. I t...
Chinese Investment in Africa
China has decided to increase its China-Africa Development Fund by $2 billion. This state-controlled equity fund has so far invested in 20 projects across Africa since it was established in June 2007. The current global recession, which has caused ma...
Timothy Garton Ash: What Confucius tells us about China - and beyond
There is a simplistic way to read this renaissance of an ancient tradition. The truth is very much more interestingWhen I was a young child, China was, for me, a vaguely comical Chinaman with a wispy moustache, dressed in an embroidered silk robe and...
CHINESE FOR LABOUR - HONOURING WOMEN
I have been involved with Chinese for Labour (CfL) since its inception. My longstanding friend Mee Ling Ng, then Deputy Leader of Lewisham Council asked me and I have been very happy to support events and activities since then. Street stalls in Chin...
South China Sea: too crowded for comfort
A few days ago, Chinese boats jostled with a US naval ocean surveillance vessel that Beijing said was conducting an illegal survey in its waters. The US National Intelligence Office stated that the Chinese had become assertive in staking claims to...
Political reform in China
A chapter in Yu Keping’s book “Democracy is a Good thing (referred to in post of 3 March) addresses the agenda for China’s political reforms based on the 17th five-year Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held in October...
Looting China: propaganda then and now
Chinese bronzes become political pawns...
Democracy is a good thing for China
Mutual understanding is essential to underpin a long term strategic relationship. Despite the common belief that Europeans and Americans share basic, common values, languages and culture, there is clearly considerable lack of mutual transatla...
European Parliament China Trade Resolution constructive
China’s role in resolving the current financial and economic crisis is vital, and so therefore is the EU-China relationship. The European Parliament has a history of highly critical resolutions on China, usually focusing on Tibet and human rights...
China reacts to the Guantanamo proposal
On 11 February the Lithuanian government announced that they were ready to take up to 10 Guantanamo prisoners. US president Barack Obama has said the Cuba-based prison will be closed within a year...
Dragon Instincts
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited the European Commission on 30 January 2009. The President of the EC, José Manuel Barroso, and Wen Jiabao discussed overall EU-China relations, but provided the present economic and financial landscape, the e...
A sole-less attack on China's honour
How kind of the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, to urge Cambridge University to show leniency toward the perpetrator of the brutal frenzy of flying footwear to which he was subjected earlier this month. How considerate of the benevolent leader to encour...
