China Analysis Digest is a weekly published list of new China-related analyses.

Issue: 2021/37

• Date range: November 4-11, 2021
• Sources scanned: 102
• Content: 181 publications from 53 sources
• Download raw data (.csv)

Recommended Reading

Profile: Xi Jinping, the man who leads CPC on new journey

Xinhua | November 6

I don’t usually recommend propaganda as reading material….this article is cringeworthy, but it’s useful for giving you a sense of how the Party-state is trying to present Xi in the context of the 6th Plenum. And just how absurd it has all become. Does anyone else find the thinly-veiled allusion to Mao quoted below over the top?

Although Xi has little time for himself, he manages to find time for swimming. This and physical labor during his youth ensure that he has enough stamina to deal with affairs of the Party, government, and the military. More importantly, he is driven by a sense of mission.

Deciding History, Sealing the Future

David Bandurski | China Media Project| November 8

The 6th Plenum is expected to pass a resolution on history. Bandurski, in this sharp piece, reminds us that:

all of the verbiage in the important document to be released this week will boil down to a simple political fact: Xi Jinping will lead the Party for years to come.

Indeed, China watchers can parse every word of the Plenum communiqué (and we will), but it all boils down to…power. History is not the dusty past, it’s about the power to decide the future.

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China Watching

China Neican

• It’s talent, stupid!
• Plenum, PLA, focus on China, esports

China Heritage

• Commemorating Jacques Pimpaneau

China Media Project

• Chinese Media Through the Decades
• Deciding History, Sealing the Future
• Propaganda Success Stories
• Cracking Down on Fandoms

China Brief

• Chinese Government’s Push for Masculinity Targets Boy Bands, Online Influencers
• Power of the Weak: Taiwan’s Strategy in Countering China’s Economic Coercion
• Western Sanctions on Belarus’s Potash Industry Test Beijing-Minsk Partnership
• How Confucius Institutes in the Arab World Shape Positive Perceptions of China
• China’s Vocational Education Workshops Seek to Strengthen Relations with Africa

Opinion Pages

Project Syndicate

• The Resistible Rise of US-China Conflict
• The Case for Chinese Foreign Aid
• Germany's Chinese Kowtow

Australian Financial Review

• China’s self-isolation is a global concern
• It’s not just subs: Australians need to fathom our strategic situation

Blogs

The Interpreter

• China: rejecting rubbish
• India’s answer to China’s ports in Sri Lanka

East Asia Forum

• ASEAN supply chain links with China and the perils of decoupling
• China closes the door to coal
• China’s coal commitments are not enough

China Dialogue

• Efforts to conserve the Chinese giant salamander continue to divide conservationists

Pearls and Irritations

• Australia may be standing alone on China as the US does not ‘have our back’
• Amnesty International’s hidden politics, not Hong Kong’s, is the real problem
• China/US sign a mega LNG deal at Australia’s expense.
• Taiwan tension is latest stage of a precision-engineered plan
• A long march: China’s unfinished business on Taiwan reunification

The Strategist

• Evolving Australia–Japan cooperation in dealing with the ‘three Cs’

Asialink Insight

• Consequences for Australia of long-term hostility with China

News & Magazines

Foreign Affairs

• Red China
• Xi Is Running Out of Time

The Atlantic

• The World Is Fed Up With China’s Belligerence

The Economist

• Xi Jinping is rewriting history to justify his rule for years to come

Los Angeles Review of Books

• Settler Colonialism Meets the War on Terror: The Enclosure of China’s Uyghurs
• The Shocks in China That Were Heard (and Not Heard) Around the World

Sixth Tone

• Canton’s Unease: As Mandarin Spreads, Locals Face Identity Crisis
• In Wuzhen, a Theater Festival Without Any Drama
• Call of Duty: Why Family Care for the Mentally Ill Is No Game
• China Asks: How Many Cultural Landmarks Is Too Many?
• Remembering Li Zehou, Philosopher of the ‘Chinese Enlightenment’
• Wild, Creative, Disturbing: Inside China’s ‘Hyperpop’ Music Scene
• The True Price of China’s Most Expensive Teas

Quartz

• China is invoking a great American economist to warn against lagging productivity

China Digital Times

• Mooted SCMP Ownership Change, Death of Southern Weekly Founder, and Journalists’ Day with Chinese Characteristics
• EU Sends First Official Delegation to Taiwan: Supporting Democracy, Countering Disinformation on the Agenda
• Inside Peng Shuai’s Accusation Against Former Top Leader: #MeToo, Censorship, and Resistance Discourse

The Conversation

• As the Beijing Winter Olympics countdown begins, calls to boycott the ‘Genocide Games’ grow

The Wire China

• Asia Can’t Decarbonize Without China’s Help
• Family Values
• What’s Going on With Trump’s SPAC?
• Microsoft’s Long Past and Uncertain Future in China

SupChina

• Luo Jialing, a.k.a. Liza Hardoon, and the height of global Shanghai
• ‘We will not stop’: Students of Nanjing University protest school’s handling of sexual harassment case
• Chinese fans leave behind government’s video game bashing to celebrate esports team’s world title
• Evergrande enters another payment grace period as Fed warns of China real estate risk
• Er Housheng, who had his eyes gouged out, dies at 58
• After crackdowns, Beijing to issue licenses to resume after-school tutoring
• China prepares to write Xi Jinping into history
• Zhang Weili falls in split decision at UFC 268
• A historic plenum — and what it means for U.S.-China relations
• The rise of Manner Coffee
• China’s fourth Delta spike spreads to 19 regions, tests ‘COVID zero’ policy
• China’s leading LGBTQ advocacy group deletes social media accounts, appears to be in jeopardy
• Who is the real Wang Huning?
• The wild, wonderful (and very queer) world of Chinese radio dramas

ThinkChina

• Are Taiwan's DPP politicians fighting to be blacklisted by Beijing?
• The Xinjiang problem: Can Washington be the defender of all?
• Chan Chun Sing: Singapore amid great power rivalry
• Interference in China’s media industry: Even Global Times editor Hu Xijin ‘cannot stand it’
• How Germany can help ensure peace in the Taiwan Strait
• Why the status quo in the Taiwan Strait is quietly changing
• How the 1992 Consensus could save cross-strait relations
• Uniting China under Xi Jinping to build a modern socialist country: CPC to pass new 'historical resolution' at sixth plenum
• US academic: Since Southeast Asia is undecided, the US will work with willing partners
• Li Yundi's case shows the immaturity of Chinese society?
• It's complicated: Chinese and Japanese public sentiments towards each other
• Elon Musk’s indissoluble bond with China

The Diplomat

• COVID-19 Complicates China’s ‘Football Dream’
• German Navy Chief Vows Long-term Commitment to Indo-Pacific
• Introducing the New Beijing Stock Exchange
• Growing Naval Imbalance Between Expanding Chinese and Aging US Fleets
• Who Wants to See a War Over Taiwan?
• How Taiwan Underwrites the US Defense Industrial Complex
• In Light of Evergrande, It’s Time to Talk About the ‘Big Four’
• China-US Tensions Put Nuclear War Back in the Spotlight
• Tennis and Politics Intertwine in China’s Highest-Profile #MeToo Case to Date
• China’s Nuclear Gambit
• What Peng Shuai’s Story Tells Us About #MeToo in China
• Moving Toward Sustainable Australia-Taiwan Ties
• China Stresses Developed Nations’ Promises at COP26

Foreign Policy

• The U.S. Military Isn’t Ready to Confront China
• COP26 Is Silent on Human Rights in China
• Australia Shows the World What Decoupling From China Looks Like
• Europe Is Doubling Down on Taiwan
• The U.S. Is Getting Taiwan Ready to Fight on the Beaches
• The U.S. Navy Needs Its Own Bonds to Be Ready for China
• China’s Energy Conundrum
• The U.S. Is Still Beating China in Human Capital—For Now
• China’s Generation of Only Children Wants the Same for Their Kids

Think Tanks

MacroPolo

• Resolving History: Will The CCP Unite Mao and Deng?

Center for Advanced China Research

• Weekly Report 4|49 10.30.2021-11.5.2021

Center for Strategic and International Studies

• Signs Point to China's Third Aircraft Carrier Launching Soon

MERICS

• China: The missing presence at COP26

Brookings Institution

• How Washington’s hawkish China policy alienates young Chinese

Australia-China Relations Institute

• What kinds of stories are popular in Australia’s Chinese-language digital media?
• Australia-China monthly wrap-up: October 2021
• Australia-PRC trade and investment developments: a timeline

China Research Group

• Policy Brief: The UK and Critical Minerals
• UK-China Relations - Reading List
• Towards a new framework for climate coordination

Observer Research Foundation

• Is China losing its trusted partners in Southeast Asia?: The Philippines’ story
• What’s strategically symbolic about Yahoo’s PRC exit?
• Growing Chinese investments in Myanmar post-coup
• Threat and Perceptions in the Himalayas: The complexity of Bhutan

Bilateral

Politico China Watcher

• All eyes on the Biden-Xi (virtual) summit

Politico China Direct

• China Direct: Xi’s stay-home summitry — MeToo scandal in Politburo — Taiwan tension

The India China Newsletter

• Postcard from a Zero Covid world, a new Land Border Law, and the significance of Peng Shuai's revelations

Beijing to Britain

• COP26 SPECIAL: UK's answer to BRI, Foreign Sec v UK's Ambassador

Beijing to Canberra and Back

• Vietnam and Australia contra economic coercion, China on France's fury, and Xi-Ardern call

Newsletters

Eye on China

• LAC Drills - US DoD Report on China - Land Border Law - Sixth Plenum Preview - Xi is the Party's 'Inevitable Choice' - Taiwan Tensions & Scenarios - Wang Yi's Rome Diplomacy

Beijing Baselines

• Without sincerity, neither things nor selves exist

ChinaTalk

• Selling China's Story: How the Chinese Gov't Privatized Facebook Propaganda

Pekingnology

• Govt procurement: Finance Ministry reiterates foreign-invested companies must not be discriminated
• Ministry of State Security revealed three data security breaches

Tracking People's Daily

• Xi Thought on Rule of Law - Trade Data - Ma Jiantang on Common Prosperity's Policy Implications - Superiority of the Chinese System
• 国之大者 on Xi's Mind - Wang Yi on China @ UN - Rejuvenation an 'Irreversible Historical Process' - Key Choices: Community of Common Destiny
• 6th Plenum Curtain Raiser - Key Choices: The Anti-Corruption Campaign - Xi Thought on Rule of Law Review - Pollution Control Guideline - New Book on Xi's Discourses - Journalism Awards
• Xi's CIIE Speech - Key Choices: China's Regional Development Strategies - Yangtze River Delta strategy - COVID-19 & the Olympics

Misc

China Trade Monitor

• Key Legal Issues in the WTO Dispute on China’s Anti-Dumping Rulings on Australian Wine

Supreme People's Court Monitor

• Reorienting the Four Levels of China’s Court System–Part 1

Society & Culture

What's on Weibo

• Chinese Team EDG Wins LoL Esports World Championship 2021
• Hotpot Chain Haidilao Is Shutting Down Over 300 Restaurants
• The Silent Storm: Peng Shuai’s Weibo Post
• The Unforgotten Victory: Why ‘The Battle at Lake Changjin’ Is One of China’s Biggest Films Yet

RADII

• China’s MMA Fighters are Spicing Up the World Arena

Greater China

Lausan

• Every weakness is claimed as strength

Hong Kong Free Press

• Is Taiwan emerging from the mists of ‘strategic ambiguity’?
• Hong Kong gov’t is blind to the real ‘national security’ threat – the climate crisis
• How Hong Kong’s finance chief joined the chorus on painting the 2019 uprising as a US plot

Taiwan Insight

• Taiwan-UK Offshore Wind Cooperation Successes Should be Big News at COP26
• Climate Change, COP26, and Challenges for Taiwan
• It’s Not All About China and the U.S at COP26: Taiwan’s Greening Strategy as a Model for the Developed Democracies
• Is Taiwan Ready to Go Net-Zero by 2050?
• Maintaining Taiwan’s Global ICT industry lead by Improving Employee’s Training

Chinese Sources

中国：历史与未来

• 人民宪章

爱思想

• 不合时宜的堂吉诃德——五四时期“新派中的旧派”
• 亮剑光寒倭寇胆 跃马征战晋冀鲁
• 刘鹗《老残游记》——清官比贪官更可怕？
• “黑格尔”的接受史
• 走向好的市场经济
• 纵论中共百年历程
• 中国文明的起源
• “大一统”和“中国”“天下”观比较论纲
• 八十年代多重要李泽厚就多重要，跟余英时有差异
• 21世纪以来中国社会分层结构变迁的特征与趋势
• 我是怎样参加地下党的
• 美台极限互动，大陆如何破局？
• 河流与人类文明
• 我是同心圆，圆周扩大，圆心没变
• 学术自由与学术积累
• 信息渠道的通塞
• 谨防美国外交派系斗争恶性化

中央党史和文献研究院

• 发展全过程人民民主 更好发挥人大制度优势（深入学习贯彻习近平新时代中国特色社会…
• 赓续共产党人精神血脉（思想纵横）
• 加大收入调节力度 依法推进共同富裕
• 到底是谁让陈望道翻译《共产党宣言》的
• “两个决议”的历史使命和时代价值
• 用党的历史经验启迪智慧、砥砺品质
• 继续奋斗，走好新时代赶考路
• 彪炳史册的伟大成就，坚如磐石的中流砥柱
• 习近平带领百年大党奋进新征程
• 营造良好数字生态（人民观察）
• 百年思想历程的理论创新和理论创造

Full list of sources scanned:

China Neican, Reading the China Dream, Made in China Journal, China Heritage, China Media Project, China Leadership Monitor, China Brief, Project Syndicate, Australian Financial Review, China Story, ChinaFile, War on the Rocks, Lawfare, The Interpreter, East Asia Forum, China Opinion, China Collection, China Dialogue, Pearls and Irritations, The Strategist, Echo Wall, Asialink Insight, Palladium, Inside Story, Foreign Affairs, Monkey Cage, The Atlantic, The Economist, Los Angeles Review of Books, Sixth Tone, Quartz, China Digital Times, The Conversation, National Review, Internationale Politik Quarterly, The Intercept, The Wire China, SupChina, ThinkChina, The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, MacroPolo, Center for Advanced China Research, Pew Research Center, Congressional Research Service, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Center for Security and Emerging Technology, MERICS, Institut Montaigne, European Council on Foreign Relations, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, National Bureau of Asian Research, Brookings Institution, U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, China Data Lab, Rhodium Group, Asia Society, Australia-China Relations Institute, China Research Group, Center for New American Security, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Chatham House, Lowy Institute, Atlantic Council, Observer Research Foundation, Australia Strategic Policy Institute, Politico China Watcher, Politico China Direct, The India China Newsletter, Beijing to Britain, Beijing to Canberra and Back, World Game, Eye on China, The Upheaval, Beijing Baselines, ChinaTalk, Pekingnology, Takshashila PLA Insight, Tracking People's Daily, Beijing Channel, Protocol | China, Chinese Storytellers, Chinarrative, Texas National Security Review, China Law Translate, China Trade Monitor, National People's Congress Observer, Supreme People's Court Monitor, What's on Weibo, Chaoyang Trap House, RADII, Paper Republic, Lausan, Hong Kong Free Press, Taiwan Insight, 中国：历史与未来, 爱思想, 《求是》, 中国现代国际关系研究院, 中央党史和文献研究院, 习近平系列重要讲话数据库