Story Archive
2020-10-30
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used a tour of Asia to upbraid China over its persecution of Uyghur Muslims and military expansionism in the South China Sea, the latest salvo in a titanic fight between Washington and Beijing -- over trade and technology, the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the autonomy of Hong Kong and Taiwan, and human rights -- that has seen bilateral relations reach their lowest point in four decades. For his part, Chinese President Xi Jinping called out “unilateralism, protectionism, and extreme egoism” in a thinly veiled jab at the U.S. in a recent speech.
2020-10-16
Faced with falling demand for Chinese exports amid trade friction with the United States and other partners, President Xi Jinping has unveiled a "dual circulation" policy that calls for boosting domestic consumption to create demand for products that are now sold abroad. A new name for the rebalancing toward consumption that China tried and failed to do a decade ago, "dual circulation" faces hurdles as the share of private consumption in China's GDP remains low, household debt as a share of disposable income is rising, and policies that would raise wages for workers would make Chinese-made goods more expensive and reduce export competitiveness.
2020-10-01
From Uyghurs and Tibetans in China's far west to Mongolians and Koreans in the north and east, a heavy-handed Communist Party policy to expand Chinese language education at the expense of native languages is meeting resistance from ethnic minorities who see a concerted drive to wipe out local tongues and identities. Inner Mongolia has seen weeks of class boycotts and street protests, while the Korean region in Jilin province has been blanketed with police to deter activism.
