



China’s Leadership Transition
Hong Kong Crisis
China’s
Economic and Social Developments
Jiang’s Retirement and Hu Era
[Government
and Documents] [Security
Issues] [Information
and Sites] [News] [Papers]
Contemporary China: A Book
List and Websites about China and Southeast
Asia (Prof. Lynn White, Princeton
University) Categorized
by subjects and has been updated. This list is long, but you can use the
subject categories at the left of your screen to find items you need. Websites
about China and Southeast
Asia is a clickable list of websites, giving access to thousands of articles
about China and Southeast Asia.
~ 2006

China Lures Top Scholars
Home By Bill Maxwell
(Washington Times, Dec. 27, 2008) To fulfill its
dream of becoming an even more powerful world player, China
had to reverse the brain drain that took its best and brightest to the West.
China Frees a Journalist It
Accused of Spying
(New York Times, Feb. 6, 2008) China has freed a Hong Kong journalist jailed
on charges of spying for Taiwan, the Hong Kong city government said, after an
international campaign calling for his release.
Politburo in China Gets Four
New Members
(New York Times, Oct. 22, 2007) The reshuffle promotes four officials to the nine-man Politburo
Standing Committee, the country’s top ruling body, including two provincial
leaders expected to inherit the posts of party general secretary and prime
minister in five years’ time.
New Hierarchy in China May
Limit President's Power
(New York
Times, Oct. 13, 2007) After intensive bargaining, China's Communist Party has
approved a new leadership lineup that denies President Hu
Jintao the decisive consolidation of power that his
supporters hoped would allow him to govern more assertively in his final
five-year term as China's top leader.
China's Leaders Deadlocked
over Succession
(International
Herald Tribune, Oct. 4, 2007) Just days away from a major leadership
reshuffle, China's Communist Party bosses remain deadlocked over who should
sit on the ruling Politburo Standing Committee and who should be anointed to
succeed President Hu Jintao
as China's No. 1 leader five years from now, party officials and political
observers say.
China 'Harbors no Leadership
Ambitions'
(Straits Times, Sep. 10, 2007) China does
not seek to lead the region or the world, now or in the future, says the man
who trains the country's diplomats. 'We do not seek leadership. This is a
very important part of China's
policy,' said Mr Wu Jianmin,
former Chinese ambassador to France and the United Nations.
From Struggle to Harmony,
China Slogans Mark Hu Era
(Reuters, Sep. 7, 2007) Within a year of Hu taking power in 2002, the "scientific concept of
development" began working its way into official pronouncements and the
phrase "harmonious society" popped up on every banner from Beijing to Buddhist Tibet.
China Drafting Space Law
(Reuters, June 11, 2007) China
is drafting laws governing outer space, state media quoted the country's
first astronaut as saying at a time when Beijing's space drive is drawing growing
international concern.
China Controls Seek to Prevent Terrorism
(AP, Feb. 17, 2007) China
said that its new export controls on nuclear technology requiring buyers to
meet stricter obligations would prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear
weapons or dangerous radioactive material.

Gunning for Wen By
Melinada Liu
(Newsweek, Nov. 3, 2008) Before it passes, the
global economic crisis may topple its share of leaders. Will China's
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao
become a casualty?
Hardliners in Bid to Oust
China’s PM By Michael Sheridan
(Times, Oct. 19, 2008) China's
most popular politician Wen Jiabao,
the prime minister, has become a target for Communist party hardliners and
could be forced from office, according to an influential magazine in Hong Kong.
Meltdown Boosts Anti-Western Forces in China By
Geoffrey York
(Globe and Mail, Oct. 17, 2008) For the
hardliners in China's
Communist Party, the global financial crisis has been a golden opportunity to
gloat about China's
rising power.
‘Red Capitalists’ Unravel
the Party Line By Wu Zhong
(Asia Times,
Oct. 17, 2008) China's Vice President Xi Jingpin
has subtly defused 30 years of thorny ideological debate by proclaiming that
the Chinese Communist Party has matured from a "revolutionary
party" into a "ruling party".
Hints of Discord on China
Land Reform By Edward Wong
(New York Times, Oct. 15, 2008) Chinese leaders
have yet to announce details of a rural reform policy they said they adopted on
Sunday, contributing to speculation that Communist Party officials are in
disagreement on major aspects of the policy.
China Democracy: Reformer’s
Words Signal a New Debate on Political Reform By
Malcolm Moore (Telegraph, Oct. 14, 2008)
President Hu Jintao has
promised "more extensive democratic rights" by 2020, without being
more specific, and this is also the year when China's booming economy should
deliver per capita GNP of $3,000, ushering in "moderate prosperity for
all."
China’s Communist Rulers
Debate How to Respond to the Crisis of Capitalism By
David Eimer
(Telegraph, Oct. 12, 2008) For four days, the Chinese Communist Party elite
has been meeting behind closed doors in Beijing to thrash out how to prevent
the global financial crisis from damaging China's continued prosperity as
much as that of the West.
The Lost Generation of the
17th Chinese Communist Party Politburo By
Leah Caprice (China
Brief, Jamestown
Foundation, Oct. 7, 2008) New Politburo members’ experience as part
of the
Cultural Revolution generation has fundamentally
shaped the character of these new leaders and has proven to be an important
factor in their leadership style and policy orientation.
Did China Bend to Critics
before Olympics? Not Much By John Chalmers (Reuters,
Aug. 15, 2008) What price did China
really pay for its day in the sun? In foreign policy terms, not much.
China’s Vice-President
Tiptoes on to World Stage By Benjamin Kang Lim
(Reuters, Aug. 13, 2008) Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping
has tiptoed on to the world stage this Olympics, rubbing shoulders with U.S.
President George W. Bush and foreign heirs apparent but making sure he
doesn't steal President Hu Jintao's
thunder.
Why China is Standing by Its
Basket-Case Allies By Richard Spencer
(Telegraph, Jul. 16, 2008) China believes long-term
advantage results from standing by those with whom you do business, rather
than dropping them when their brand of dictatorship becomes less appealing
than your own.
Beijing's Dictatorship Diplomacy By Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt
and Andrew Small (International Herald
Tribune, Dec. 20, 2007) Over the last two years, Beijing has been quietly overhauling its
policies toward pariah states. The shift has been driven in part by China's
changing calculation of its economic and political interests. With its
increased investments in pariah countries over the past decade, China
has had to devise a more sophisticated approach to protecting its assets and
its citizens abroad. It no longer sees providing uncritical and unconditional
support to unpopular, and in some cases fragile,
regimes as the most effective strategy.
Collective Leadership May Be
Emerging
(Straits Times, Oct. 23, 2007) The
compromise promotion to the Communist Party top leadership of two potential
successors to top posts yesterday does not necessarily indicate serious
divisions within the party. Indeed, some analysts believe it reflects an
emerging collective leadership in China.
China Parades Next Generation
of Leaders
(Washington Post, Oct. 23, 2007) Xi Jinping looked a little uncomfortable
in the spotlight as President Hu Jintao
introduced him as the ranking newcomer in the Communist Party's elite
Politburo Standing Committee. Li Keqiang, next in
line in the nine-man club of China's senior mandarins, seemed more assured
but looked stiff as he marched across the stage.
China: New Leaders, Old
Problems By Dexter
Roberts
(Business
Week, Oct. 22, 2007) A new generation may be more open to reform than the old
guard, but making real changes, especially in the countryside, won't be easy.
Beijing has already made clear its intention
to adjust China's
economic focus, and the fifth generation—as they gradually assume more
power—almost certainly will stick to that path.
China Opens Path for New
Generation Of Leaders
(Washington Post, Oct. 22, 2007) The Chinese Communist Party announced that
three of its most powerful leaders were retiring, making way for a new
generation including the eventual successor of President Hu
Jintao as head of the world's most populous nation.
Yes, Ask Questions, Just
Don't Expect Straight Answers
(Straits
Times, Oct. 19, 2007) 'Wild rumors.' 'There is no
basis for such talk.' The
above responses by top Chinese
leaders this week when pressed about their political fate suggest that the
party still has a long way to go as far as genuine transparency is concerned.
To be fair, the CCP has taken small, if careful, steps forward, and some of
the political elites are showing signs of loosening up.
China Communists Plan
Expanded Say in New Leadership By Chris Buckley (Reuters, Oct. 19, 2007) Chinese President Hu Jintao will give a Communist
Party council some say in electing the Party's new core leadership in a
breakthrough that could play against unpopular
officials linked to his predecessor.
Bush Appears With Dalai Lama,
Nudges China By Elizabeth Williamson (WP, Oct.
17, 2007) President
Bush presented the Dalai Lama
with Congress's highest civilian honor yesterday, pressing China
to engage with Tibet's
exiled leader in his most significant embrace of a man whose cause and global
following have been a constant irritant to Beijing.
Rare Glimpse of Two of
China's Rising Stars
(AP, Oct.
17, 2007) China's ruling
Communist Party offered the media a rare glimpse of two rising political
stars, giving them a chance to show themselves as self-effacing, businesslike and
worthy for promotion to the senior leadership.
China’s Leader Closes Door to
Reform By Joseph Kahn
(New York Times, Oct. 16, 2007) President Hu Jintao promised to
address social fissures, a degraded environment and rampant corruption during
his second term as China’s top leader, but he all but ruled out more than
cosmetic political reform in his opening address at the 17th National
Congress of the governing Communist Party.
Hu Set for Second Term at
China's Helm By Edward
Cody
(Washington
Post, Oct. 14, 2007) With the party's 17th National Congress convening in
Beijing, Hu, 64, is about to be anointed for a
second five-year term as party secretary and president. Over the first five
years, he has skillfully maneuvered to confirm his primacy in the party
hierarchy and enhance his authority. But he has given no indication that he
intends to use his carefully accumulated power to fulfill those early hopes
for bold political change.
China's New Leaders Steeped in Pragmatism
(Associated Press, Oct. 14, 2007) Li Keqiang's rise
is also a sign of how much China
is changing. Like Hu, Li belongs to a new
generation of Chinese leaders who are pragmatic, steeped in economic
experience and increasingly have backgrounds in
finance and law, in contrast to the engineers and soldiers who preceded them.
Close Ties with Hu 'Make Li Keqiang Heir
Apparent'
(Straits Times, Oct. 5, 2007) Among the multitude of rising stars in the
Chinese leadership, few in recent years have generated as much buzz as Mr Li Keqiang. As party chief
of north-eastern Liaoning province, the
52-year-old neither holds the most coveted provincial appointment nor enjoys
a high public profile.
Hu's Grade in First-Term Report
Card: 'Very Good'
(Straits Times, Oct. 2, 2007) Analysts give A for growth and political
stability, but not for reforms. Five years on, four analysts who spoke to The
Straits Times rated his first-term performance as being better than expected,
but said the lack of meaningful political reforms was a major disappointment.
Hu's Plan to Anoint Successor May
Hit a Snag
(Straits Times, Sep. 28, 2007) From out
of the blue, a flurry of news articles this week seem to hint at a potential
scuttling of President Hu Jintao's
game plan for a major leadership reshuffle next month. The highlight of the
reshuffle was to have been Mr Hu's
anointment of his protege Li Keqiang,
52, as his successor to the Chinese leadership in 2012. But news emerged that
things might not go so smoothly.
China's Hu
Tests Power at Communist Congress By Benjamin
Kang Lim (Reuters,
Sep. 5, 2007) When President Hu Jintao opens the 17th
Chinese Communist Party congress on October 15, he will be seeking to oust
key rivals, name a successor and finally emerge from the shadow of his once
powerful predecessor, Jiang Zemin.
Hu in New Bid to Tighten Screws
on Rival Faction
(Straits Times, Aug. 6, 2007) One has died from an undisclosed illness while
another is already behind bars on corruption charges. But there appears to be
no let-up in Chinese President Hu Jintao's attempts to put the squeeze on members of the
rival Shanghai
faction, a group of senior leaders and officials allied with his predecessor Jiang Zemin.
Beijing Takes No Chances on Security
(Reuters, Aug. 3, 2007 ) Tibetans, Uighurs, Falun Gong, dispossessed farmers, foreign human rights
and environmental groups -- in China's eyes, they are all
potential security threats to next year's Beijing Olympics. Making sure the
Games pass without a hitch in the world's most populous nation was always
going to be a challenge for China's
stability-obsessed Communist rulers.
Hu Close to Getting Pet Doctrine into Party Charter
(Straits
Times, June 29, 2007) President
Hu Jintao has a major
political victory in his sights as he accelerates efforts to write his pet
ideological credo into the ruling Communist Party's Constitution. This could
happen as early as October or November when the 17th Party Congress, an
all-important five-yearly leadership meeting, is convened, analysts said.
Corruption Case Breaks
'Shanghai Taboo' By Edward Cody
(WP, Apr. 1, 2007) It reflects a political decision by President Hu Jintao to flex his
leadership muscles against entrenched party officials known as the Shanghai
faction, loosely grouped around former president Jiang
Zemin and his proteges
from this coastal boomtown.
China's Communist Party Continues Change
(AP,
Mar. 27, 2007) China's
Communist Party named two more provincial bosses Monday in a widening
reshuffle likely to consolidate President Hu Jintao's power ahead of a party congress this year.
Impact of Deng's Policies Grows: Analysts
(Agence France Presse,
Feb. 20, 2007) Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping died 10 years ago on Feb 19, but
the impact of his policies on China
and the world has only grown with time, analysts say.
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