Category Archives: Politics

Understanding the military parade marking the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender.

There has been a lot of press coverage about the military parade China held to mark the 70th anniversary of the Japanese surrender that ended the Second World War, sometimes referred to as the Second Sino-Japanese War, and known in … Continue reading

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Hong Kong Demonstrations

Having recently read an article in ForeignPolicy.com on the demonstrations in Hong Kong the issue of over-simplification of issues, and stark black and white judgements, often casting China in a villainous role prompted me to write the following comment on … Continue reading

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Number One? No thanks!

The Financial Times reports that China is set to become, if it has not already become, the world’s largest economy in 2014, based on purchasing power. But interestingly it is reported that China has been engaged in a long campaign … Continue reading

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The Taiwan Question

Representatives of China and Taiwan formally met today (11th February 2014) for the first time in 65 years. It is an historic occasion, a pragmatic (if difficult step) in the ever-closer relationship between the mainland and Taiwan. But what is … Continue reading

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China’s Space Programme

The landing of a lunar rover by China’s National Space Administration has grabbed news headlines around the world. The Administration’s accomplishments are significant, but the fact that China has apparently embarked unilaterally on a space programme in some ways is … Continue reading

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Unrest in Xinjiang

The Times reports that 17 people were killed by rioters in Lukqun, Xinjiang Province, before police opened fie on the rioters and shot ten of them dead. The notion of China as a nation state is a very recent – … Continue reading

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New leader hints at foreign policy apporach

The Times reports on the first publicised speech of China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, on foreign policy. The Times article is titled’ “Xi strikes strident note on foreign policy” although the report itself simply reports on Xi Jnpings assertion that … Continue reading

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New leadership in China

China has new leaders. That’s not to say that the old ones have completely disappeared. There’s lots of commentary and news coverage on the subject, and I don’t want to simply regurgitate that material. Rather a simple point of observation, … Continue reading

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Scapegoating China

China features highly in the US elections, with neither Republican nor Democrats wanting to be seen to be soft on “Red China”. The evils of China range from spy networks, cyber crimes and stealing American jobs to trade deficits, undervalued … Continue reading

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Caught in the middle

The US Congress has deemed that the two Chinese telecoms companies, Huawei and ZTE pose a security threat to the US, and recommended that the two companies should not be allowed to take part in any US mergers or acquisitions. … Continue reading

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