At the all-important two sessions (lianghui) meetings last month, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials adopted a new and surprisingly unambitious Five-Year Plan, reoriented the country’s technology strategy and redoubled the crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong. All of this was documented...
Donald Trump would dearly like to add his face to Mount Rushmore as the fifth presidential musketeer. His fireworks-and-fury extravaganza on July 3 was the next best thing. Trump’s dystopian speech was almost beside the point. Much more important was the photo op of his smirking face next to...
Something didn’t quite add up.This past weekend, protestors were rallying outside the American embassy in Hong Kong. They were waving American flags. They were singing "The Star-Spangled Banner." One 24-year-old protester wore a red "Make America Great Again" hat. Some signs at the...
The world’s governments and peoples must decide how to address the increasing surveillance and data collection — and the resulting loss of privacy — that digital formats provide. In recent years, much of this attention has focused on the rapidly building surveillance and data aggregation in...
Xi Jinping finds an alternative to exceptionalism to consolidate China’s bid to lead the global economy. Raising the debate to the level of universal principles, Chinese President Xi Jinping has framed his response to US President Donald Trump’s doctrine of America First, a specific brand of...
It would be impossible for China to tackle air pollution without overhauling the rural economy. Beijing has vowed to continue cracking down on the city’s notorious smog problem in 2019, although, unlike previous years, the capital has declined to give specific target numbers for average...
Not since the modern liberal order was born in the 1940s has the world had to grapple with the possibility of its demise — at the hands of a rising China. China and the United States remain engaged in the most serious trade dispute the world has seen in generations. Today, English remains the...
The question remains whether China will adjust to the status quo of the global economy and abide by the laws — or not. China’s economic growth over the last 30 years has astounded the world. Since 1978, under the tenure of Deng Xiaoping, China has embarked on a process of transformation that...
Playing by the rules requires sincerity. But we have passed from a rules-based to a laws-based system, with a madman writing the laws. International relations between the United States and China show signs of evolving into a scenario worthy of the most melodramatic soap opera. The script now...
US tariffs will cause immense pain to China, leading to existential risks to its export-oriented economic model and much pain. After World War II, the US decided to create a new rules-based international order. It was based on institutions such as the United Nations, the World Bank and the...
Comparing the idea of “trickle” and “drizzle” helps to understand the contrast between the rival economic cultures. Western economic ideology — when it isn’t a theology — has long promoted the metaphor of “trickle-down” to justify the situation we have arrived at today, where...
There’s a good chance that the two cons will cancel each other out because neither side will have to give up anything, at least not completely or immediately. Conmen always keep up a patter. While they’re extracting the wallet from your pocket, they maintain a nonstop monologue so that you...
China is a force to be reckoned with. Not only should the US take notice, but the rest of the developed world should do too. A recent issue of Foreign Affairs, “Letting Go: Trump, America, and the World,” questions the extent to which the United States under President Donald Trump has...
Recent trade skirmishes between China and the United States are less about steel and soybeans and more about which country will be the leader in global innovation in the 21st century, writes Wharton Dean Geoffrey Garrett in this opinion piece. The escalation of tariffs between China and the...
Those China tariffs aren't surprising. What’s bizarre are the people praising Trump's recklessness and reviving his political fortunes. By slapping tariffs on Chinese imports, Donald Trump has once again proven to be the Disrupter-in-Chief. This week alone, he’s brought John Bolton in as...
