On Wang Yang, Xi Jinping, Belt and Road – China’s latest political and current affairs news
Politics & Current Affairs
A summary of the top news in Chinese politics and current affairs for October 26, 2017. Part of the daily The China Project newsletter, a convenient package of China’s business, political, and cultural news delivered to your inbox for free. Subscribe here.
- Yesterday, I called Wang Yang 汪洋 “the most interesting new member of the Politburo,” and complained that Wang does not seem to have generated much interest in the English language media. I had missed a New York Times story (paywall) by Keith Bradsher published on October 19 that focuses on Wang. The article’s conclusion seems to be that while Wang being part of the Politburo Standing Committee will provide a voice for economic reforms of the kind appealing to Western companies, but he still “be carrying out an agenda drafted by” Xi Jinping.
- Xinhua News Agency’s top story (in Chinese) today reveals a new slogan based on “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism With Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,” the concept that was written into the Party’s constitution during the just concluded 19th Party Congress. The slogan is much easier to say: “New era, new journey, new chapter” (新时代 新征程 新篇章 xīn shídài xīn zhēngchéng xīn piānzhāng).
- Two recent articles look critically at Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative: Bloomberg reports on how the project “traverses territory where most bond investors fear to tread,” while in the New York Review of Books, Philip Bowring says the Belt and Road is China overplaying its hand, “encouraged by its sudden wealth, and by a floundering U.S.”
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19th Party Congress, Xi Jinping, and the Communist Party
Chinese state firm executives frozen out of Central Committee as Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption plan bites / SCMP
“No executives from state-owned enterprises (SOE) made it to the Chinese Communist Party’s newly elected Central Committee as full members – a dramatic change from 2012 when five top managers of state firms were among more than 200 full members on the party’s elite decision-making body.”
China’s 19th Party Congress: The front pages of China’s top newspapers are all the same today, and all about Xi Jinping / Quartz
Three disgraced Chinese Communist Party officials accused of trying to rig elections / SCMP -
Reaction to leadership shuffle
On Shanghai outskirts, some residents unmoved as China unveils leadership / Reuters
Xi’s accrual of power seems to resonate with Chinese public / AP -
U.S.-China relations
‘Extraordinary elevation’: Trump kowtows to kingpin Xi / Guardian
Kushner will take a diminished role on Trump’s China trip / Politico
China says defense ties inject ‘positive energy’ into U.S. relations / Reuters -
Competition with Belt and Road?
Japan to propose strategic dialogue with U.S., India and Australia: Nikkei / Reuters -
Taiwan
Taiwan president calls for breakthrough in China relations / Reuters
