Shortly before the 20th CP Congress, China's head of state Xi Jinping is under more pressure than he has been in a long time. The tensions over Taiwan call for action of symbolic significance. Economically, a grab for Taiwan's semiconductor industry seems tempting. However, an invasion of the island for semiconductor and political motives would have fatal consequences for China.
By Experts Table.Briefings
In dictatorships like the one in China, people often live a double life. Cab drivers swear vocally about the government, but are strict CP members at the same time. In schools, Orwellian neologisms and doublespeak are widespread, words are attributed new meanings, and logic is often twisted. China is drifting into a "new form of totalitarianism" that does not use terror, but massively suppresses and kills debate.
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For four decades, rapid economic growth was the prime imperative of China's communist leaders. President Xi Jinping, by contrast, is prepared to forego growth in the interest of cementing the Party's political power and pursuing his Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.
By Experts Table.Briefings
Our series “China Perspective” is written by authors from the People’s Republic. This first part looks at the view of Chinese citizens on the Taiwan issue. In China, people grow up with different ideas about the status of the island than their contemporaries in Western countries. Taiwan is regarded as part of the People’s Republic as a matter of course, and any other view is rejected. Moreover, this issue is highly emotionally charged.
By Redaktion Table
The Taiwan crisis is another example that we are witnessing a historical turning point; a turning point that cannot be pinned down to just one political event, but is based on an interplay of interlocking crises, changes and shocks.
By Redaktion Table
Officially, China is pursuing extensive plans to phase out coal, oil and gas. On closer inspection, however, these plans seem less than ambitious. In addition, the temptation to solve acute problems by reverting to greater use of fossil fuels is great.
By Redaktion Table
Bloggers use imagination and wit to fool the omnipresent controllers of the Chinese censorship apparatus. Their often virtuous linguistic creations form a still unwritten online dictionary of Chinese protest culture.
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China's renewed saber-rattling over Taiwan, galvanized by US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's visit to the island, is born of a need to maintain some control over the situation in the Taiwan Strait following steady electoral victories by Taiwan's pro-independence party. But while Chinese military action is unlikely at this juncture, an accidental clash is all too plausible.
By Redaktion Table
Nancy Pelosi leaves a roiled Taiwan Strait. In China.Table, researcher Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, former advisor to the EU Parliament, assesses the peril of the situation and possible EU responses.
By Redaktion Table
With the world beset by climate change, pandemics, and a shocking new war in Europe – to say nothing of mounting inequality and related social and political tensions – globalization’s defenses are in tatters. And China may well have the most to lose.
By Redaktion Table
