CHINAMacroReporter

How China's Middle-Class China is Transforming China and the World

‘Among the many forces shaping China's domestic transformation and its role on the world stage, none may prove more significant than the rapid emergence and explosive growth of the Chinese middle-class.’
by

|

CHINADebate

July 25, 2021
How China's Middle-Class China is Transforming China and the World

‘Among the many forces shaping China's domestic transformation and its role on the world stage, none may prove more significant than the rapid emergence and explosive growth of the Chinese middle-class.’

  • ‘At the heart of this story is Shanghai. Nowhere in China has this new socioeconomic force been more transformative — and more intriguing — than in this pace-setting city.’

This from Cheng Li, Director of the John L. Thornton Center at Brookings.

  • Dr. Li is the author of the important new book, Middle Class Shanghai: Reshaping U.S.-China Engagement,.
  • And today's issue recaps our recent interview about his insights not just about the middle-class in China with a focus on Shanghai but also about its broader implications for U.S.-China relations.

Dr. Li: 'A growing number of Chinese citizens - currently estimated between 400 and 500 million - enjoy a middle-class lifestyle with private property, personal automobiles, improved health care, accumulation of financial assets, and the ability to afford overseas travel and foreign education for their children.’

  • ‘They live like the middle-class, consume like middle-class, feel like middle-class, and they are middle-class.’
  • ‘They have already transformed China's socioeconomic structure and the world economy.’

With trillions of dollars to spend, the Chinese middle-class is a huge market for foreign businesses.’

  • ‘In fact, Western business groups earlier than anyone else – whether academics, journalists, or policy makers - identified the Chinese middle-class.’

As for Shanghai: As of 2018, over 5 million households shared this lifestyle and could be considered middle-class families, constituting 91 percent of the total registered households of the city.’

  • ‘In 2020, per capita GDP in Shanghai already exceeded U.S.$23,000.’
  • ‘According to a 2019 report by the People’s Bank of China, almost all registered families in Shanghai owned residential property, with a significant number of families owning two or three properties.’
  • ‘The average value of household assets among Shanghai residents was 8.07 million yuan (U.S.$1.2 million).

Beyond his explanation of the Chinese middle-class, Dr. Li discusses the implications for U.S.-China engagement:

  • ‘My fear is that Washington and Beijing are heading toward a dangerous pass, increasingly shaped by a zero-sum game mindset on both sides.’
  • ‘In the United States today, the ongoing policy and political discourse on China in the United States today disproportionately focuses on Beijing, on the Chinese authoritarian system, on the so-called China threat, and on the fatalistic view that often treats the most populous country in the world in a monolithic way.’

‘My book, Middle Class Shanghai, is a humble effort to provide a different angle, based the cultural and the educational fronts, from the perspective of shared middle-class lifestyles, aspirations, concerns, and values.’

  • ‘These are quite similar between China and United States, and I use the Shanghai middle-class as an example of this.’

‘By looking at Shanghai, we can really see the marked contrast to Beijing in the ways the two cities approach things – and begin to see that China is in no way monolithic.’

  • ‘The dynamism and diversity of middle-class Shanghai challenge the caricature of the People’s Republic of China as a burgeoning hegemon with a Communist apparatus set on disseminating its singular ideology and development model.’

‘Still, in the past few years, both Chinese nationalism and anti-American sentiment have indeed skyrocketed at an alarming speed and scope. I'm actually quite worried about this trend.’

  • ‘But this is largely a reaction not only to Washington hawks who have labelled China as a “whole-of-society threat,” but also to a new McCarthyism targeting Chinese and Chinese-American scientists, as well as growing anti-Asian hate crimes and racism in the U.S.’
  • ‘Washington should neither underestimate the role and strength of the Chinese middle class nor ostracize and alienate this force with policies that push it towards jingoistic nationalism and anti-American authoritarianism to the detriment of both countries and the global community.’

‘Middle-class exposure to foreign influences and the cosmopolitan culture could provide a force for a new mechanism for reshaping U.S.-China engagement.’

  • ‘We should remember that U.S.-China relations are not just state-to-state relations, but also shared people-to-people relations.’
  • ‘We should also remember that Beijing is not China.’

But perhaps the most important parts of a very important book are Dr. Li’s arguments supporting his view that:

  • ‘It is premature to conclude that the U.S. engagement policy with China under the eight presidents prior to the Trump administration has failed.’
  • There’s a lot to cover today so I will let you read, below, how Dr. Li explains and provides convincing evidence to support his contention.

Better still, read Cheng Li’s Middle Class Shanghai: Reshaping U.S.-China Engagement.

  • It covers far more than we discussed here, and I can't recommend it more highly.

Cheng Li is one of the leading experts on China – and, as I have mentioned often, my go-to when I want to know what the leadership in Beijing is thinking.

  • He knows because he has been friend, advisor, and confidante to them for decades.

Dr. Li grew up in Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution.

  • In 1985 he came to the United States, where he received an M.A. in Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Princeton University.
  • Dr. Li’s CV has more activities and honors than I have room for here.

1 | 'Middle Class Shanghai: Reshaping U.S.-China Engagement'

BIG IDEA | ‘Among the many forces shaping China's domestic transformation and its role on the world stage, none may prove more significant than the rapid emergence and explosive growth of the Chinese middle-class.’

Malcolm Riddell: ‘Cheng, why is it important to understand China’s growing middle-class?’

Cheng Li: ‘Among the many forces shaping China's domestic transformation and its role on the world stage, none may prove more significant than the rapid emergence and explosive growth of the Chinese middle-class.’

‘A growing number of Chinese citizens - currently estimated between 400 and 500 million - enjoy a middle-class lifestyle with private property, personal automobiles, improved health care, accumulation of financial assets, and the ability to afford overseas travel and foreign education for their children.’

  • ‘They live like the middle-class, consume like middle-class, feel like middle-class, and they are middle-class.’
  • ‘They have already transformed China's socioeconomic structure and the world economy.’

‘In Shanghai, as of 2018, over 5 million households shared this lifestyle and could be considered middle-class families, constituting 91 percent of the total registered households of the city.’

  • ‘In 2020, per capita GDP in Shanghai already exceeded U.S.$23,000.’
  • ‘According to a 2019 report by the People’s Bank of China, almost all registered families in Shanghai owned residential property,, with a significant number of families owning two or three properties.’
  • ‘The average value of household assets among Shanghai residents was 8.07 million yuan (U.S.$1.2 million).'

‘In 2002, 40% of China's middle-class live in four cities; Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The rapid expansion of the middle-class has gradually extended beyond these megacities.’

  • ‘According to McKinsey, by 2022, the proportion of China’s middle-class that resides in second- and third-tier cities will reach 76%.’

With trillions of dollars to spend, the Chinese middle-class is a huge market for foreign businesses.’

  • ‘In fact, Western business groups earlier than anyone else – whether academics, journalists, or policy makers - identified the Chinese middle-class.’
  • ‘They saw how profoundly the middle-class changed China's economic structure and the global economy.’

‘China's the middle-class development has a wide range of implications for every domain of a Chinese society: economic roles, political stability, social cohesion, environment protection, and the culture changes.’

  • ‘On the international front, the emerging Chinese middle-class has already begun changing the ways in which the PRC interacts with the outside world, for better or worse, by expanding Chinese socioeconomic outreach and soft-power influence.’

‘I hope that the people in the United States will have a thoughtful intellectual and policy debate about the role and the implication of the Chinese middle-class as you and your signature platform, CHINADebate, wisely call for.’

2 | ‘My Humble Effort’

From my interview with Cheng Li. We'll publish the video soon.
BIG IDEA | ‘My book, Middle Class Shanghai, is a humble effort to provide a different angle, based the cultural and the educational fronts, from the perspective of shared middle-class lifestyles, aspirations, concerns, and values.’

Malcolm Riddell: ‘Would please tell us your overriding reason for your book, Middle-Class Shanghai.’

Cheng Li: ‘I have message to share by emphasizing Shanghai.’

‘My fear is that Washington and Beijing are heading toward a dangerous pass, increasingly shaped by a zero-sum game mindset on both sides.’

  • ‘In the United States today, the ongoing policy and political discourse on China in the United States today disproportionately focuses on Beijing, on the Chinese authoritarian system, on the so-called China threat, and on the fatalistic view that often treats the most populous country in the world in a monolithic way.’

‘My book, Middle Class Shanghai, is a humble effort to provide a different angle, based the cultural and the educational fronts, from the perspective of shared middle-class lifestyles, aspirations, concerns, and values.’

  • ‘These are quite similar between China and United States, and I want to use the Shanghai middle-class as an example of this.’
  • ‘But looking at Shanghai, we can really see the marked contrast to Beijing in the ways two cities approach some things – and begin to see that China is in no way monolithic.’

‘Middle-class exposure to foreign influences and the cosmopolitan culture could provide a force for new mechanism for reshaping U.S.-China engagement.’

  • ‘For that reason, more broadly, my book emphasizes the similarities rather than differences between Americans and Chinese people.’

‘Neither country should be driven by ultra-nationalistic sentiments to demonize each other.’

  • ‘We should remember that U.S.-China relations are not just state-to-state relations, but also shared people-to-people relations.’

‘We should also remember that Beijing is not China.’

  • ‘Nothing illustrates that quite as well the contrast between and Beijing’s jingpai culture and Shanghai’s haipai.

3 | The ‘Haipai’ - ‘Jingpai’ Divide

Test question: Which qipaos reflect haipai culture, and which jingpai? For extra credit, explain your choices.
BIG IDEA | ‘Just as New York and Washington are profoundly different from each other, the same can be said about Shanghai and Beijing.’

Malcolm Riddell: ‘In your book, you distinguish between Shanghai as haipai culture and Beijing as jingpai culture. Could you explain that and how is it important in our understanding of China's middle-class overall?’

Cheng Li: ‘You earlier made a comparison between Shanghai and New York.’

  • ‘Indeed, Shanghai is to China what New York City is to the United States.’
  • ‘And just as New York and Washington are profoundly different from each other, the same can be said about Shanghai and Beijing.’

‘The Chinese have illuminated the differences between jingpai and haipai for over a century, ever since the 1919 May 4th movement, if not earlier.’

  • ‘Beijing culture, jingpai, is characterized as aristocratic, conservative, elitist and bureaucratic.’
  • ‘Shanghai culture, haipai, as pragmatic, entrepreneurial, innovative, leisurely, holistic, and forward-looking.’
  • ‘Malcolm, you and our viewers can tell I come from Shanghai with all these terrible biases.’

‘Chinese scholar, Yang Dongping, has described politics as the salt in Beijing, without which life has no taste, no flavor.’

  • ‘People in Shanghai don't bother to discuss politics so much. They love to talk about doing business and entrepreneurship.’
  • ‘Even during times of tensions with Taiwan, for example, in 1996, and also more recently, Shanghai's leaders reached out to the Taiwanese - actually there's huge Taiwanese community living in Shanghai - and said, "Don't leave. Shanghai will continue to do business with you." ’
  • ‘That’s haipai in contrast to jingpai.’

‘Shanghai’s distinct entrepreneurial spirit and cultural identity (haipai culture) quickly gained prominence after Deng Xiaoping’s economic reform and opening up took root in the 1980s and 1990s.’

  • ‘Many of the important changes that have taken place over recent decades — the establishment of a stock market, foreign investment, the rise of private firms, land leasing, property booms, and expansion of higher education — either began in Shanghai or have otherwise affected this born-again city in a deep and enduring way.’

‘These developments have contributed to the birth and growth of a new socioeconomic stratum, the members of which enjoy a middle-class lifestyle with private property, cars, accumulated financial assets, and the financial freedom to travel overseas and educate their children abroad.’

4 | The Shanghai Paradoxes

Paradox: site where the CCP was founded, flanked by modern Shanghai skyscrapers.
BIG IDEA |Middle-Class Shanghai actually reveals China's unsettled future because Shanghai embodies what I call two tales of a city. Now in my view, Shanghai was, is, and will be paradoxical.’

Malcolm Riddell: ‘Your book is Middle-Class Shanghai, but that's a lot like saying middle-class New York. Why did you choose Shanghai as the focal point of your analysis for China’s middle-class?’

Cheng Li: ‘The rapid emergence and explosive growth of the Chinese middle-class is one of the world’s most stunning developments.’

  • ‘At the heart of this story is Shanghai.’
  • ‘Nowhere in China has this new socioeconomic force been more transformative — and more intriguing — than in this pace-setting city.’

‘The dynamism and diversity of middle-class Shanghai challenge the caricature of the People’s Republic of China as a burgeoning hegemon with a Communist apparatus set on disseminating its singular ideology and development model.’

  • ‘China today, as exemplified and led by Shanghai, is also a crucible of change driven by a growing middle-class.’

‘Middle-Class Shanghai also reveals China's unsettled future because Shanghai embodies what I call two tales of a city.’

  • ‘Now in my view, Shanghai was, is, and will be paradoxical. Consider these three paradoxes:

First, the 'was' paradox: 'Historically, Shanghai was the most westernized Chinese city.’

  • ‘But it was also the birthplace of the CCP, the Chinese Communist Party, and the center of Maoist radicalism during the Cultural Revolution (during which myself, as a young boy and also my family suffered a great deal).’

Second, the 'is' paradox: 'Today, Shanghai is often regarded as the frontier city of market reform, opening up, and indeed cosmopolitanism.’

  • ‘But, at the same time, the city is also what the Chinese call the head of a dragon in China's industrial policy and also state capitalism.’

Third, the 'will be' paradox: 'In the future, Shanghai can serve as the vanguard of a middle-class of worldly voices, views, and the values.’

  • ‘But the city may increasingly become the showcase of China's growing nationalism and the mercantilist global outreach, driven by a growing middle-class.’

‘My point here is that we should place Shanghai's future and China's future in an ever-changing domestic and international context.’

  • ‘It is neither predetermined nor stagnant.’
  • ‘Shanghai is not a monolithic entity, and certainly China is not either.’

‘China today, as exemplified and led by Shanghai, is also a crucible of change driven by a growing middle-class.’

5 | 'It is premature to say that engagement has failed.'

BIG IDEA | ‘It is premature to conclude that the U.S. engagement policy with China under the eight presidents prior to the Trump administration has failed.’

Malcolm Riddell: 'One of your most interesting and important points is your contention that it is premature to say the engagement policy toward has failed. Would you please explain?

Cheng Li: ‘Many believe that America’s long-standing engagement policy towards China has failed on two major grounds.’

‘First, the premise that global integration would lead China to a sort of free-market capitalism.'

  • Instead, China has retained much of what Chinese Communist Party leaders call “socialism with Chinese characteristics” or what critics describe as “state capitalism.” ’

‘And second, the premise that four decades-long, multi-dimensional American-Chinese cultural and educational exchanges would make China more democratic.'

  • 'This has turned out to be just the opposite. Members of China's middle class are often seen as political allies rather than challengers to authoritarian rule.’

‘I contend, as you say, that it is premature to conclude that the U.S. engagement policy with China under the eight presidents prior to the Trump administration has failed.’

‘That's because the two pessimistic views, just noted, overlook the complexities and contradictions of China’s ongoing transformation.’

  • ‘Let me focus on the Chinese middle-class to challenge a few of the underlying assumptions of these views.’

‘First is the so-called “whole of society threat” championed by some U.S. policy makers.

  • 'This assumes that China is a monolithic entity with no distinction between state and society.’
  • 'But there is an actual – and very real – distinction that exists.’

‘True, China’s nascent middle class tends to emphasize the status quo and is risk-averse in political views and behavior.'

  • 'But this may be only a transitory phase.’

‘We saw, for example, the nationwide criticism of the government response to the tragic death of Dr. Li Wenliang, a whistle-blower who exposed the coronavirus at the outset of the outbreak, displayed in part the middle class’ intriguing political role.’

'So, the relationship between the middle-class and the Chinese communist government is, in fact, not stagnant but ever-changing.'

  • 'Rather than seeing a "whole of society threat," U.S. policy makers should be aware that China's middle-class is not necessarily in step with the state on any given issue - and never to the extent that the middle-class constitutes a part of a seamless alignment between it and the state that endangers America.'

‘Second is the belief that the Chinese middle-class is the political ally of the party state.'

  • 'This belief arose, I believe, because, in the past few years, both Chinese nationalism and anti-American sentiment have indeed skyrocketed at an alarming speed and scope.'
  • 'But both nationalism and anti-American sentiment are largely reactions, not only to Washington hawks who have labeled China as a “whole-of-society threat”, but also to a new McCarthyism targeting Chinese and Chinese-American scientists, as well as growing anti-Asian hate crimes and racism in the US.

As for nationalism: Yes, a high degree of nationalistic sentiment certainly exists among members of the Chinese middle-class, including foreign-educated returnees who studied in the U.S. or west.'

  • 'But remember, these views among the Chinese middle-class co-exist with cosmopolitan perspectives on various important issues, such as climate change, public health, food and drug safety, and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as middle-class values such as the protection of property rights, entrepreneurship, government transparency and accountability, and consciousness of taxpayer rights.’
  • ‘These are universal aims and values shared by the middle-classes of both China and America - and are at odds with nationalistic fervor.'

'As for anti-American sentiment: This is largely a reaction, as I said, to the U.S.'

  • ‘U.S. policy makers should recognize that Chinese middle-class views of America are neither homogeneous nor fixed.’
  • 'And those views could change with changes in U.S. attitudes and actions - and this perceived alliance between the middle-class and the state would diminish accordingly.'

‘Third is the belief that paints the large number of PRC students and scholars in the U.S. as spies, who are being weaponized by Beijing, and therefore, assuming bilateral educational exchanges benefit only China and may even undermine American supremacy and American security.’

  • ‘National security and the intellectual property rights should be vigorously protected on the part of the United States.'
  • 'But racial profiling of PRC-born scientists, Chinese-American researchers, and young Chinese students fails to serve the interests of America and also does not align with American values.’
  • 'And, as mentioned, this stokes both nationalistic and anti-American sentiments.

‘In sum, unlike the view of foreign business that China's middle-class presents an opportunity, the pervasive view in Washington about middle-class development in China is no longer one of hope for positive change but rather one of fear that this development may undermine American supremacy and security.’

  • ‘But I say again, U.S. policy makers should neither underestimate the role of the Chinese middle-class nor alienate this force with policies that push it toward ultra-nationalism and anti-American authoritarianism.’

'Then perhaps they will come to agree that it is premature to conclude that the U.S. engagement policy with China has failed.’

More

CHINAMacroReporter

March 29, 2021
'Global Cycle Notes: U-Turn': China
‘A U-shaped recovery in the services sector beckons, but it’s still difficult to describe just what it will look like. No event in economic history compares, and the range of outcomes for wages, prices, employment, and financial markets is large.’
keep reading
March 28, 2021
‘At a Crossroads: The Next Chapter for FinTech in China’
‘As financial innovation has gained traction and the firms driving it have grown into sizeable players, the dynamic between innovators and regulators has begun to shift. Regulatory agencies have started to be more proactive in supervising the activities of technology firms after realizing that the size of many technology firms and FinTechs means they could threaten financial stability and peace in society if their innovation efforts and business practices were overly aggressive.’
keep reading
March 28, 2021
'New Trade Representative Says U.S. Isn’t Ready to Lift China Tariffs'
'The U.S. isn’t ready to lift tariffs on Chinese imports in the near future, but might be open to trade negotiations with Beijing, according to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.'
keep reading
February 18, 2021
'Like It Or Not, America Is Still A Superpower'
‘The twentieth century was littered with the carcasses of foreign leaders and governments that misjudged the United States, from Germany (twice) and Japan to the Soviet Union to Serbia to Iraq. Perhaps the Chinese, careful students of history that they are, will not make the mistake that others have made in misjudging the United States.’
keep reading
February 16, 2021
'Is China experiencing an advance of the state sector?'
‘The value-added produced by state-owned enterprises has usually been in the range of 25-30% of China’s GDP. And what’s really striking about those numbers is that they just haven’t changed very much over the past 25 years. The share of China’s economic output being produced by SOEs today, under Xi Jinping, is not significantly different than it was under Hu Jintao, or even in the later years of Jiang Zemin.’
keep reading
February 16, 2021
‘China Blocked Jack Ma’s Ant IPO After Investigation Revealed Likely Beneficiaries’
‘Behind layers of opaque investment vehicles that own stakes in Ant Financial are a coterie of well-connected Chinese power players, including some with links to political families that represent a potential challenge to President Xi and his inner circle. Those individuals, along with Mr. Ma and the company’s top managers, stood to pocket billions of dollars from a listing that would have valued the company at more than $300 billion.’
keep reading
February 14, 2021
How to Keep U.S.-Chinese Confrontation From Ending in Calamity
'The two countries need to consider something akin to the procedures and mechanisms that the United States and the Soviet Union put in place to govern their relations after the Cuban missile crisis—but in this case, without first going through the near-death experience of a barely avoided war.'
keep reading
February 14, 2021
The United States, China, and Taiwan: A Strategy to Prevent War
‘We believe that a crisis is building over Taiwan and that it is becoming the most dangerous flashpoint in the world for a possible war that involved the United States of America, China, and probably other major powers.'
keep reading
February 13, 2021
Why China Will Go Green - Really
‘To Communist Party leaders, greenery increasingly aligns with their economic and political interests. China, a populous country that is cruelly lacking in clean water and arable farmland, and which hates having to rely so heavily on imported energy, has a selfish interest in embracing what President Xi Jinping calls “ecological civilisation”.’
keep reading
February 11, 2021
'The Biden Team Wants to Transform the Economy. Really.'
‘Biden and his more activist advisers hope to modernize key industries and counter an economic threat from China, swiftly emerging as the world’s other superpower. “The package that they put together is the closest thing we’ve had to a broad industrial policy for generations, really,” says Scott Paul, the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.’
keep reading
February 10, 2021
‘What the ‘Hong Kong Narrative’ gets wrong'
‘For a significant cohort of the [“pro-democracy”] protesters, the more accurate label would be “anti-China activists.” The one thing that seems to unite them is not a love of democracy, but a hatred of China.'
keep reading
February 8, 2021
Why the Anglosphere sees eye to eye on China
‘Some of America’s European allies are very wary of what they fear will be a new cold war with China. By contrast, the US is getting more support from the UK, Australia and Canada.’
keep reading
February 7, 2021
' "Longer Telegram" | To Counter China’s Rise, the U.S. Should Focus on Xi'
A strategy that focuses more narrowly on Xi, rather than the CCP as a whole, presents a more achievable objective.'
keep reading
February 7, 2021
'The Sources of Soviet Conduct'
'The main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.’
keep reading
February 7, 2021
'Remarks by President Biden on America's Place in the World'
“We’ll confront China’s economic abuses; counter its aggressive, coercive action; to push back on China’s attack on human rights, intellectual property, and global governance.”“But we are ready to work with Beijing when it’s in America’s interest to do so. We will compete from a position of strength by building back better at home, working with our allies and partners, renewing our role in international institutions, and reclaiming our credibility and moral authority, much of which has been lost.”“That’s why we’ve moved quickly to begin restoring American engagement internationally and earn back our leadership position, to catalyze global action on shared challenges.”
keep reading
February 7, 2021
'In Search of Today’s George Kennan'
‘Kennan provided a framework to break through the bitter divide between those who believed America should return to its prewar isolationism, and those who believed the USSR was itching for a dramatic showdown with the capitalist west.’
keep reading
February 7, 2021
' "Longer Telegram" Sets Off Fierce Global Debate'
'The fierce global debate set off this week by a thought-provoking paper - “TheLonger Telegram: Toward a New American China Strategy” – has underscored the urgency and difficulty of framing a durable and actionable U.S. approach to China as the country grows more authoritarian, more self-confident and more globally assertive.'
keep reading
February 7, 2021
The 'Longer Telegram' & Its Discontents
Why everyone wants to be George Kennan‘In 1947 X penned his history-changing “Sources of Soviet Conduct” in Foreign Affairs,’ wrote Edward Luce in the Financial Times in 2018.‘The piece, which crystallised America’s cold war containment strategy, was the making of George F Kennan’s life-long reputation as a master of geopolitics.’‘ As the architect of a doctrine that won the cold war.’
keep reading
February 7, 2021
'Brookings experts analyze President Biden’s first foreign policy speech: Focus China'
'To respond effectively, Biden argued, America will need to rebuild leverage, e.g., by pursuing domestic renewal, investing in alliances, reestablishing U.S. leadership on the world stage, and restoring American authority in advocating for universal values.'
keep reading
February 7, 2021
'Why the ‘Longer Telegram’ Won’t Solve the China Challenge'
‘Perhaps the most problematic aspect of the 'Longer Telegram's' emphasis on Xi—“All U.S. political and policy responses to China therefore should be focused through the principal lens of Xi himself”—is the author’s conclusion that Washington should be seeking to escape from, and even try to effect the removal of, Xi’s leadership because that could restore U.S.-China relations to a potentially constructive path: “its pre-2013 path—i.e., the pre-Xi strategic status quo.” ’
keep reading
February 4, 2021
Why Beijing Is Bringing Big Tech to Heel
‘Beijing’s recent antitrust efforts are motivated less by worries about the tyrannical nature of monopoly power than by the belief that China’s tech giants are insufficiently committed to promoting the goal advanced by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of transformative technological innovation—and thus may be undermining the effectiveness of Chinese industrial policy.’
keep reading
February 3, 2021
'Secretary of State Antony Blinken on U.S. Policy Toward China'
‘There’s no doubt that China poses the most significant challenge to us of any other country, but it’s a complicated one.’
keep reading
February 3, 2021
'Burma’s Coup and Biden’s Choice'
‘The top U.S. priority in Asia is limiting Beijing’s ability to control independent states like Burma, which is strategically situated in the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. response needs to take into account China’s regional designs.’
keep reading
February 3, 2021
'Myanmar, Burma and why the different names matter'
‘Unlike most of the world, the U.S. government still officially uses "Burma." '
keep reading
February 3, 2021
'Coup a further complication for tricky Myanmar-China ties'
‘Even if China played no role at all in ousting Suu Kyi, Beijing is likely to gain still greater sway over the country.’
keep reading
February 3, 2021
‘Beijing Won’t Let America “Compartmentalize” Climate Change'
‘‘You want China to take action on climate change?" asks Xi Jinping. "Let’s talk about what you’re going to give to get it.’’
keep reading
February 3, 2021
Burma: At the Center of the U.S.-China Competition
In today’s issue: 1. China Lays Out Its Position / 2. The U.S. Lays Out Its Position / 3. Burma: At the Center of the U.S.-China Competition / 4. Burma or Myanmar?
keep reading
February 3, 2021
'A Conversation with Politburo Member Yang Jiechi'
‘History and reality have shown time and again that these issues concern China's core interests, national dignity, as well as the sentiments of its 1.4 billion people. They constitute a red line that must not be crossed.’
keep reading
February 3, 2021
'National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on U.S. Policy Toward China'
‘Being prepared to act as well to impose costs for what China is doing in Xinjiang, what it’s doing in Hong Kong, for the bellicosity of threats that it is projecting towards Taiwan.’
keep reading
February 3, 2021
'Coup Puts Myanmar at the Center of the U.S.-China Clash'
‘Chinese oil and gas pipelines snake across Myanmar from China’s landlocked Yunnan province to the Bay of Bengal—a route that Beijing wants to transform into a broader economic corridor with road and rail connections.’
keep reading
February 3, 2021
'Biden's whole-of-National Security Council China strategy'
'National security adviser Jake Sullivan is personally focused on China as a priority, building capacity across departments and agencies and running processes that break down old silos between foreign and domestic policy.'
keep reading
January 31, 2021
'Biden’s Nightmare May Be China'
‘The coming years represent the greatest risks since I began covering U.S.-China relations in the 1980s, partly because Xi is an overconfident, risk-taking bully who believes that the United States is in decline.’
keep reading
January 31, 2021
Opinion | Marco Rubio: 'China is exploiting U.S. capital markets and workers. Here's what Biden should do.'
‘China can finance its industrial ambitions with the deepest, most liquid capital markets in the world — our own.’
keep reading
January 31, 2021
The UK Stands Up, the U.S. Not So Much
“We have honored our profound ties of history and friendship with the people of Hong Kong, and we have stood up for freedom and autonomy—values both the U.K. and Hong Kong hold dear.” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
keep reading
January 31, 2021
'U.S.-China Capital Flows Vastly Underestimated'
‘And yet, debates around US-China passive securities investment suffer from shortcomings similar to those inherent in the early debates about US-China bilateral FDI and VC: official data do not provide a clear picture for policymakers to understand the scope and patterns of two-way investment flows and stocks.’
keep reading
January 31, 2021
'Why U.S. Securities Investment in China is Vastly Underestimated'
‘The conduits of US securities investment in China that are obscured or ignored in the US Treasury International Capital (TIC) dataset constitute a majority of all holdings, so these figures vastly underestimate the true scope at the end of 2020.’
keep reading

Heading

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.