China Analysis Digest #39
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From this week, we are adding an extensive list of Chinese language publications to the digest. In the past, we've listed publications from a handful of Chinese sources. But the list was very limited. Now, no longer.
The Chinese sources we scan cover world affairs, politics and policy, economics, history, law, society and culture, and philosophy.
Here is the new structure of the Analysis Digest:
I. Recommended Reading
II. English Sources
III. Chinese Sources
Let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions.
Thanks
-Adam
China Analysis Digest #39
- Date range: November 17-25, 2021
- Sources scanned: 107
- Publications: 201 (English), 85 (Chinese)
I. Recommended Reading
The long game: China's grand strategy to displace American order
Todd Hall | International Affairs | November 1
Hall offers an incisive review of Rush Doshi’s influential new book. The issue with Doshi’s methodology, Hall argues, rests with taking certain propositions proclaimed by the CCP at face value and failing to supply empirical evidence to ground others raised. A more fundamental worry is that Doshi’s account “renders any state that seeks to fortify itself against US interference or intervention—which Doshi so convincingly demonstrates has been a key PRC fear—or to build institutions without US participation as a challenger to the international order more broadly. It replicates the very ‘zero-sum’ view he attributes to Beijing.”
Who’s afraid of China’s nukes?
Van Jackson | Duck of Minerva | November 22
“The interest of the national security crowd is in examining symptoms, not deeper causes. They can’t stomach the wider frame on current events...they can’t stand the possibility that America’s choices undesirably affect the behaviour of its rivals.” Jackson uses the case of China’s nuclear buildup to highlight the above, arguing that Beijing is essentially responding to US posture and moves. This begs the question: will Beijing slow down or speed up in response to US moves to counter China’s nuclear weapons?
The Sixth Plenum and the Rise of Traditional Chinese Culture in Socialist Ideology
Zhuoran Li | The Diplomat | November 19
Li looks at the nexus between traditional culture and ideology under Xi: “By placing Chinese culture at the center of Chinese socialism, the CCP attempts to combine socialist principles with the traditional Chinese political system to synthesise a new foundation of political stability and effective governance.” He points out that the CCP uses traditional culture and conservative values to counter western liberalism and individualism, which it sees as causes for social ills. But since China’s society is diversifying, enforcing rigid moral rules will lead to alienation and disaffection.
Cancel Culture Isn’t the Real Threat to Academic Freedom
Yangyang Cheng | The Atlantic | November 23
Cheng reminds us that the biggest threat to academic freedom is not the Cancel Culture or Beijing, it is the existing power relations: "An ivory tower above and beyond the messy planes of politics is an illusion. The academy is not an abstraction. It has a history and depends on a set of material conditions to function. It’s not merely a meeting of minds but also a congregation of bodies, in a world where some bodies are valued more than others. Like any other institution, the academy is embedded in the power relations of a society, and relations of power, if not actively contested, are always reproduced. Regarding racist speech and critiques of racist speech as equal in a “marketplace of ideas” is not being neutral; it is perpetuating racism. Too often, discussions on “campus free speech” are distracted by superficial optics and overlook the underlying power dynamic. The privileged cry victim when their privilege is being challenged. The disenfranchised resort to aggressive tactics in a desperate attempt to be heard and are cast as the bully."
II. English Sources
China Watching
China Neican
- ***Neican is entering a new era***
- Brief #95: US-China, ideology, Peng Shuai
- Politburo meeting: November 18, 2021
China Heritage
China Media Project
China Brief
- Early Warning Brief: Did Xi Jinping Secure “Leader for Life” Status at the Sixth Plenum?
- Infrastructure Development in Tibet and its Implications for India
- Geopolitical Challenges Cloud Next Chapter in Xi’s Triumphalist History
- Evolving Missions and Capabilities of the PLA Rocket Force: Implications for Taiwan and Beyond
- Australia-China Tensions Simmer Amid Trade War and AUKUS
Opinion Pages
Project Syndicate
- China's Tech Regulators Strike Again
- Redefining Engagement with China
- Rebuilding the Infrastructure of Sino-American Relations
New York Times
- Hong Kong’s Universities Have Fallen. There May Be No Turning Back.
- Biden Thinks He Can Have It Both Ways on China. He’s Wrong.
Wall Street Journal
- The Coddling of American Children Is a Boon to Beijing
- Joe Biden Should Come Out and Say It: America Will Help Defend Taiwan
- Biden Has a Summit With Xi, but No Strategy for China
Australian Financial Review
- Embrace Japan as most favoured partner to meet the China challenge
- Morrison turns China ‘threat’ into an election wedge
- Don’t underestimate Xi’s ambitions
Sydney Morning Herald
- China relations: Call it what you like, but don’t call it a new Cold War
- Biden and Xi’s smiles can’t hide the fundamental problem
- The one word that will stop war over Taiwan
Blogs
War on the Rocks
Lawfare
- Water Wars: Japan Makes Major Defense Spending Pledges While China Increases Incursions in the South China Sea
- NSL Verdict a Major Blow to Free Speech in Hong Kong
The Interpreter
- Paul Keating may be the “Grand Appeaser”, but is he wrong?
- India, China and finger pointing climate politics
- Regulating unmanned underwater vehicles in Indonesian waters
East Asia Forum
- Middle power diplomacy essential to secure Asia against big power rivalry
- What Xi and Biden forgot to mention on the economy
- The CPTPP isn’t just a trade deal for Taiwan, it’s a survival plan
- Balancing accessibility and quality in Blue Dot Network infrastructure finance
Pearls and Irritations
- Morrison turns China ‘threat’ into an election wedge
- The most remarkable aspect of Western attacks on China over Xinjiang is the unabashed hypocrisy
- Yesterday President Xi Jinping discussed South China Sea with ASEAN leaders
- Liberals’ fear-mongering won’t be effective: former Australian diplomat
- Chinese takeaway from the Xi-Biden summit
- Wang Huning, the Chinese Communist who understands America
- The one word that will stop sleepwalking our way to war over Taiwan.
- Is Xi Jinping’s support as strong as his predecessors?
The Strategist
- Too soon to be waving the White flag on China
- Taiwan’s defence is vital for Australian security
- Beijing’s propagandists flounder as the world asks, ‘Where is Peng Shuai?’
Asialink Insight
- The strategic opportunity of AUKUS
- Xi-Biden meeting is cordial, but will anything change between the superpowers?
News & Magazines
Palladium
Foreign Affairs
The Economist
- Chinese officials help to cultivate a local graffiti scene
- To prevent floods, China is building “sponge cities”
Sixth Tone
- China's Skilling Machine: How Trade Schools Are Stepping Up
- They Needed Medication. They Got a Visit From the Drug Squad.
- How a Chinese Olympian Struggled to Get Back to the Top
- Is There a Future for the ‘Chinese School of Animation’?
- They Swapped Lives for a Month. Did Anything Change?
- How Video Games Fueled the Rise of Chinese Fantasy
- Through the Glass Ceiling, and Beyond
- China at COP26: Coal, Methane, and 1.5 Degrees Celsius
- Chinese Vocational Schools Have a Discipline Problem
Quartz
- Beijing’s messaging on #WhereIsPengShuai mixes creepiness and cutesy
- Rare earths: Scarcity at your fingertips
- China’s common prosperity drive is taking aim at wealthy internet influencers
- Wuhan’s seafood market may have been the origin of the covid-19 pandemic after all
- China’s first ever Formula 1 driver aims to get the Chinese hooked on the elite motor sport
- A weird email from Chinese state TV stirred more questions about a missing tennis player’s safety
- Four charts that show why China fought hard for coal at COP26
China Digital Times
- Lockdown Voices: Chinese Doctors Urge More Humane Covid Policies
- #WhereIsPengShuai: The World Wants To Know
- Journalist Visa Whipsaw: Correspondent Denied HK Visa; US and China Reach Tentative Thaw on Journalist Visas
The Conversation
- Western luxury brands are entering a risky pact with China’s influencers
- Little red children and ‘Grandpa Xi’: China’s school textbooks reflect the rise of Xi Jinping’s personality cult
The Wire China
- Why Is China’s Growth Rate Falling So Fast?
- The Resistible Rise of U.S.-China Conflict
- Nathan Law on Keeping Hong Kong Relevant
- The Refrigerator Revolution
- Trust Games
SupChina
- Harbin’s Confucius Temple and an embrace of nationalism
- Beijing is targeting Taiwanese companies with links to Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party
- Chinese tech philanthropy in the age of ‘common prosperity’
- ‘Far East Deep South’: Panel discussion on the history and evolution of Afro-Chinese relations in America
- ⭐ Chinese fashion photographer Chen Man apologizes for ‘unthoughtful’ work
- China’s birth rate drops to levels not seen since 1978. Experts say the worst is yet to come.
- Blinken downplays China competition on Africa tour
- Peng Shuai tells IOC she’s fine, but doubts remain
- Sports stars tweet support for disappeared tennis champion Peng Shuai after #MeToo allegations against retired Party official
- Biden-Xi meeting aftermath: A prisoner swap, and a search for ‘strategic stability’
- Peter Hessler, preeminent China writer, on teaching at Sichuan University in the age of COVID-19
- Scan-to-order sweeps across China, to customers’ chagrin
ThinkChina
- Between a rock and a hard place: Mongolia’s ambivalent relations with China
- Is Chinese support the main reason for Cambodia's success with pandemic control?
- ASEAN-China relations stay robust despite Myanmar's absence from virtual summit
- US academic: US-centric worldview and hostile policies hindering US-China exchanges
- Animal protectors and feminists hindering pandemic work in China?
- When a dog of the privileged class in China bites a commoner
- China’s pet industry booms as the post-90s generation seeks to fill a void
- ⭐ Professor Wang Gungwu’s Tang Prize 2021 lecture: China’s road from wen to shi
- Can China pull itself out of the economic doldrums?
- Overseas culprits triggered Tiananmen incident; China will advance under Xi Jinping Thought: CPC's third historical resolution
- Resignation of university presidents in Hong Kong: Can politics and education be kept separate?
- US and China not perceived as climate change leaders in Southeast Asia
- China and US could work on building clean and green BRI and Build Back Better World (B3W)
The Diplomat
- After 4 Years as Pawn in China-US Game, Seattle Man Is Home
- China’s Quest for Greater ‘Discourse Power’
- AUKUS’ Reception in the Indo-Pacific
- Moon’s Inter-Korea Peace Process Deadlocked in China-US Tensions
- Philippine Supply Boats Reach Marines at China-guarded Shoal
- Reviewing China’s New Stealth Fighters
- China’s Risky Investments: Wealth Management Products and Corporate Bonds
- The Quiet China-Africa Revolution: Chinese Investment
- Biden, Xi, and the Importance of Guardrails in the US-China Relationship
- ⭐ The Sixth Plenum and the Rise of Traditional Chinese Culture in Socialist Ideology
- Doubts Over Email Raise Concerns for Peng Shuai’s Safety
- What Hong Kong’s Urban Poor Can Tell Us About Climate Change’s Toll on Public Health
- China Coast Guard Uses Water Cannon Against Philippine Boats
- Bhutan-China Border Negotiations in Context
Foreign Policy
- How China Became Jihadis’ New Target
- The Chinese Communist Party Still Thinks It Owns the Future
- What’s Going on With China’s Missing Tennis Star?
- Pentagon Quietly Puts More Troops in Taiwan
- Biden Struggles to Stick to the Script on Taiwan
Think Tanks
Center for Advanced China Research
Center for Strategic and International Studies
- China: The Growing Military Challenge: Volume Two of a Graphic Net Assessment
- Look Skeptically at China’s CPTPP Application
MERICS
- One Belt, One Voice: Chinese media in Italy
- Big fish in small ponds: China’s subnational diplomacy in Europe
- EU-China Opinion Pool: Rethinking EU-China climate cooperation
- China's subnational diplomacy in Europe and Germany
China Data Lab
Atlantic Council
- China Pathfinder: Q3 2021 Update
- Competing data governance models threaten the free flow of information and hamper world trade
Observer Research Foundation
- The EU must support Lithuania against China on Taiwan
- Keeping a close eye on China’s nuclear capabilities
- Turbulent times for China’s Big Tech is far from over
- Behind the facade of civility, the reality of the US-China dialogue
- China’s new border law: A concern for India
Bilateral
Politico China Watcher
Politico China Direct
Beijing to Canberra and Back
Newsletters
Eye on China
ChinaTalk
Pekingnology
Tracking People's Daily
- China-ASEAN Ties - Li Talks to Provincial Governors - PLA, CPPCC Discuss 6th Plenum - Provincial Secretaries & 6th Plenum Spirit - CPC Outreach to South Asian Left Parties - Xi Thought on Rule of Law
- BRI's Future Direction - Wang Yi on US & Taiwan - Huang Kunming: Xi Thought is Key at Home & Revitalising World Socialism
- Politburo on National Security - Xi Thought at Heart of 20th Party Congress Election - 8 Years of BRI - Wang Yi warns Japan's FM - Ding Xuexiang on Ideals, Beliefs and Xi's Core Position
- History Resolution Drafting Details - China-Israel Ties - Re-lending Plan for Coal - Stable, Safe Energy Supply a 'Precondition' for Low-carbon Transition - Zhao Leji on 6th Plenum & Self-Revolution
Misc
Supreme People's Court Monitor
Society & Culture
What's on Weibo
- China Association of Performing Arts Issues Online Influencer ‘Warning List’ with 88 Names
- Chinese Tennis Star Peng Shuai Attends Fila Kids Junior Tennis Finals
Chaoyang Trap House
RADII
Greater China
Hong Kong Free Press
- Hong Kong centrists test the waters as Beijing tries to avoid the appearance of a stage-managed election
- Foodpanda Hong Kong: Now we understand the heartlessness of the ‘gig economy’
- COP26 climate pact: kicking the can down the road, with help from China
- How Hong Kong can tackle the climate crisis ahead of the next COP meeting
Taiwan Insight
- Three ways to support Taiwan’s UN membership
- No Island Left Behind: Cross-Strait Relations in China’s National Museums
III. Chinese Sources
World Affairs
Chinese Diplomacy
Great Power Relations
- “印太”地区安全秩序纷争与中国的地区秩序愿景 (葛腾飞)
- 五眼联盟的对华政策协调及其限度 (蔡翠红 王天禅)
- 美国对华战略的“全政府”方式 (刁大明 马嘉帅)
- 总体国家安全观与中美关系的发展趋势 (黄仁伟)
- 把握新型国际关系的建设方向 (徐坚)
- 中国申请加入CPTPP的考虑与拜登政府的贸易政策 (王缉思)
- 理解美国南海政策转变的三个维度 (钟飞腾)
International Relations Theory
Politics & Policy
Chinese Politics
- 以党的全面领导筑牢国家治理现代化的支撑体系 (颜德如)
- 准确把握“新发展阶段”的历史方位和科学内涵 (李景治)
- 深刻理解把握新发展理念的由来、内涵和要义 (陈理)
- 坚定理想信念 牢记初心使命 (丁薛祥)
- 从中西比较视域看中国式现代化的突破与创新 (段妍)
- 论完善中国特色的人民群众监督制度 (霍宪森)
Comparative Politics
Public Policy & Governance
Economics
Commentary
- 以制度型开放与高层次合作促进中国新发展格局构建 (田国强)
- 新基建如何助力构建新发展格局 (盛朝迅)
- 实践先行与理论创新——从常修泽教授学术探索历程看浙江改革开放先行 (潘如龙)
- 碳达峰碳中和需要创新驱动和技术支撑 (周宏春)
- 战胜命运与定西马铃薯产业发展经验 (林毅夫)
- 从社会分工看等价交换 (王东京)
Public Sector Economics
- “中国扶贫”的政治经济学 (罗伯特·沃克 杨力超)
- 收入分配改革的重点和具体举措 (王兆星)
- 推动全体人民共同富裕取得更为明显的实质性进展 (黄慧群)
- 协调发展 (陈梓睿)
- 实施中等收入群体倍增战略 (刘世锦)
- 第三次分配对当下中国的意义 (贾康)
Financial Economics
Macroeconomics
Development Economics
History
Modern Chinese History
- “弹着图”与“枪后” (徐勇)
- 康有为力图以武力使光绪皇帝复位 (杨天石)
- 族群政治形态的流变与中国历史的近代转型 (吴启讷)
- 回顾与前瞻 (王建朗)
- 活“主义”与“学问” ——一九二〇年代中国思想界的分裂 (王汎森)
- 五四运动为何会突然爆发? (罗志田)
Ancient Chinese History
Historiography
Law
Constitutional & Administrative Law
- 国家任务变迁与环境宪法续造 (杜健勋)
- 政府数据开放中数据收益权制度的建构 (商希雪)
- 司法实践中的“诚信政府” (张青波)
- 数字化行政方式的权力正当性检视 (展鹏贺)
- 习近平法治思想中的依宪治国论 (关保英)
- 论地方政府在应对突发公共卫生事件中的发布预警职责 (李洪雷 张亮)
- 论《共同纲领》中的民主原则 (钱坤)
- 新时代人民代表大会制度发展的演进逻辑 (秦前红 张演锋)
Criminal law
Jurisprudence
- 坚持党的领导、人民当家作主、依法治国有机统一的法理分析 (郝铁川)
- 法律经验研究的主要渊源与典型进路 (陈柏峰)
- 比较法研究中的中国法——关于法律的地位和权力组织形式的思考 (朱景文)
- 论习近平法治思想的内在理论逻辑 (莫纪宏)
Society & Culture
Ethnography
- 身体:锚定仪式意义之锚 (高莉莎)
- 禳灾文化记忆在乡村旅游中的价值重构 (李军)
- 从多元一体到差序多元的世界意识 (赵旭东 李飔飏)
- “中华民族共同体”概念的基本内涵及理论意义探析 (杨虎得 韩喜玉)
- 当代中华民族共同体建构 (常士訚)
Philosophy
Chinese Philosophy
- 德性培塑与社会道德建设 (朱康有)
- 尧舜之道的理论构建 (韩星)
- “以天为则”的学习精神 (楼宇烈)
- 探索儒学的现代范式 (谢遐龄)
- 还理于《象》 ——叶适易学的破与立 (何俊)
- 神圣秩序与等级团结——兼论中华神圣人格等级主义模式 (李向平)
- 中华传统文化中的民族共同体意识 (杨朝明)
- “夷狄之有君,不如诸夏之亡也”四种歧解辨正 (李细成)
- 儒家是一种刚毅到骨子里的思想 (杨立华)
- 乾道后期道学理论的建构 (陈来)
- 内在与超越之间——论牟宗三的内在超越说 (赵法生)
- 先秦君子观和天下观的价值与意义 (王启发)
Marxist philosophy
Edited by Adam Ni | code by Katharina Ni | Recommended Reading by Adam Ni, Yun Jiang, Brian Wong and Anastasiia Rudkovska