China’s rules are building a divide with the rest of the world, similar to the Berlin wall Russia started to build last century, says China veteran Ian Johnson in news.com.au. “Speech is more restricted than ever. Community activities and social groups are strictly regulated and monitored by the authorities,” he explained.Read More →
Former China correspondent and author Ian Johnson was forced to leave the country in 2020 and revisited China earlier in 2023 for Foreign Affairs. He found a country in stagnation, that was used to double-digit growth, but lost its economic glamor, the former power base of the Communist Party. Strict government regulations changed China he knew. Also, information on his latest book Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future. Read More →
“When the Chinese get good at something, all of the sudden, the United States says, ‘This is a national security risk’”, says Shanghai-based business analyst Shaun Rein on the tech arms race between China and the US, where Huawei, TikTok, and others got into trouble in the US, in his interview with Ian Bremmer.Read More →
While most of the world is still investigating and trying ways to use a digital currency for their countries, this is more than obvious for China, says fintech expert Sara Hsu in the Raconteur. China is already close to being cashless and many places no longer accept notes and coins. Read More →
A star-studded Chinese TV drama delving into workplace sexual harassment titled Imperfect Victim recently ended but the debate it triggered rages on. Journalist and social commentator Zhang Lijia dives into the debate for the South China Morning Post.Read More →
The disappearance of former foreign minister Qin Gang has triggered off a spate of rumors. China veteran Ian Johnson looks into what this means for the position of China’s top leader Xi Jin Ping.Read More →
Economist Arthur Kroeber is not expecting a significant stimulus of China’s economy as the central government has done in the past. The government is instead hoping the economy will outgrow the current post-Covid-19 dip without massive intervention, he says at CNBC.Read More →
China business analyst Shaun Rein looks at the different views China has on the Blinken and Yellen visits for CNBC. Both officials represent a different camp in the Biden administration, and unfortunately, Blinken might have more sway compared to Yellen, he thinks.Read More →
China business veteran Shaun Rein discusses with Cyrus Janssen how China has faced challenges since it opened up post-Corona. Outbound travel has not resumed, expected revenge spending did not happen and consumer confidence is at the lowest rate ever. No, he says, China is not yet back to normal, because consumers sit on their corona savings, unwilling to spend. And foreign investors, while CEOs are going to China, are hesitant to resume investing in China, at least till the end of 2023. But support for Xi Jinping is still there, he sees. Though, expect a tough 10-20 years.Read More →
China veteran and scholar Ian Johnson will publish in September 2023 his next book Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future. “It describes how some of China’s best-known writers, filmmakers, and artists have overcome crackdowns and censorship to forge a nationwide movement that challenges the Communist Party on its most hallowed ground: its control of history,” writes Ian Johnson at his weblog.Read More →
Political analyst and senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations Ian Johnson gives a fast overview of the issues ahead of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visit to Beijing, including the US-China relations, Cuba, Ukraine, Taiwan, and more for CBS News.Read More →
China veteran Ian Johnson, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations(CFR), looks at how the groups of China dissents abroad, have dramatically changed since the Tiananmen Square crackdown, on the CFR-blog. “Long known for being riven by personality disputes and having little impact back in China, overseas activists now seem more united and more plugged into China than before.” he writes.Read More →