The famous author Zhang Lijia discussed earlier this week in the New York Times the prospect – of better the lack thereof – of political reform in China. In Google+ Hangout-on-air we will discuss early next week why she does not think the upcoming leadership is ready for that task.Read More →
Ruling Prime Minister Wen Jiabao warned a few months ago the country needs real political reforms to avoid another Cultural Revolution. Is China’s upcoming leadership ready for that tasks? Author and celebrity Zhang Lijia writes in the New York Times she has her doubts.Read More →
Disposed Chongqing leader Bo Xilai might have left behind a more prosperous city, that wealth comes at a price, as Chongqing’s debts are far higher than China’s average of already high liabilities, tells financial expert Victor Shih in the Wall Street Journal.Read More →
Former president and party leader Jiang Zemin has made appearances last week, joining the mayhem surrounding China’s leadership transition, later this year. Political analyst Victor Shih gives his take in this article for Bloomberg.Read More →
Is it like the Gang of Four in 1976? Or Tiananmen in 1989? Or the dismissal of Chen Liangyu in 2006? Commentators struggle to find a comparison. The downfall of Bo Xilai certainly showed cracks in the varnish of unity among China’s leaders, tells political analyst Victor Shih in the Voice of America.Read More →
Chongqing communist party boss Bo Xilia might have been sacked from his post as provincial leader, earlier today, but that does not mean the big shot is finished, explains political and financial analyst Victor Shih in Bloomberg.Read More →
The 70 richest members of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislative body, collected more wealth than their US brethren, discovered Rupert Hoogewerf, founder and managing director of Hurun, a Shanghai research body focusing on China’s rich, according to Bloomberg.Read More →
US ambassador to China Gary Locke has been warning about the danger of internet developments in China going into a wrong direction. China analyst and author Shaun Rein fears China’s backlash, and a possible trade war later this year in CNBC.Read More →
Income inequality in the USA is larger than in China and Iran, says a report from the CIA, even though China has a huge income divide too. But one part it has done better than the USA: it taxed the rich, where the money is, not the poor, says business analyst Shaun Rein in Forbes. Read More →
North-Korea’s new leader Kim Jong-un has been prepared for his new job, probably better than most observers know, says historian and research Paul French, author of the North Korea: The Paranoid Peninsula: A Modern History, Second Edition in Channel 4 news.Read More →
China’s local government have been financing their wealth mostly by selling off land. As debts to fuel economic growth rise, more land sales might be on the agenda, tells financial and political analyst Victor Shih in Bloomberg, increasing the gap between rich and poor.Read More →
US Congress intends to pass a currency bill, potentially triggering off a trade war with China by imposing tariffs on trade, notes business analyst Shaun Rein with increasing amazement in CNBC.Read More →