As you’ll see from the photo, it is a glorious day in Beijing. A glorious day to head down to Tiananmen Square and take in the action at the National Peoples Congress and the Chinese Political People’s Consultative Conference. These two bodies–often referred to by cynical Western reporters who clearly have no faith in the democratic …

For all of you hard core fans of the so called six party talks on North Korea, here is the transcript of a recent session Ambassador Christopher Hill, the lead U.S. negotiator, had at the Asia Society. In it he talks at some length about China’s role in the talks. This transcript is 41 pages long, and obviously not all of it deals with …

To follow up on Simon’s post, it’s worth also considering Chen Shui-bian’s statement on independence within the context of Taiwan’s political situation. Chen clearly has his problems, most notably his wife’s indictment, but he is sitting pretty these days compared to Ma Ying-jeou, who stepped down last month as head of the opposition …

As the responses to my last post about Taiwan and China’s military spending bear out, mention of the island inflames high passions (and sometimes foaming at the mouth incoherence) in some people. It seems that the same button gets pushed regularly by Taiwan President Chen Shui Bian when he’s feeling in need of a blast of invective from …

Greetings and happy year of the pig! With apologies to vegetarians and Muslims, here’s a picture from a recent holiday of a particularly apposite golden piggy.

Last night, as China residents will be all too well aware, was the last day of the 15 New Year celebrations and marked by a six hour long barrage of fireworks that made the …

Amnesty International has a new report out today on the difficulties faced by migrant workers in China. I don’t know if anybody’s going to be shocked by this. The problems caused by the massive movement of rural Chinese to work in urban areas have been clear for a while. This document does cover them exhaustively. The topics discussed …

Jim Mann, former LA TIMES Beijing bureau chief and author of, among other things, Beijing Jeep–a classic on one of the early joint ventures after China’s economic opening–is out with a new book that’s raising a ruckus. It’s called The China Fantasy, and it’s a must read for anyone interested in the debate over China’s likely political …

Earlier this month I mentioned an inflammatory quote from the British Olympic Association (BOA) boss, who said that the world was “at war against China” when it came to athletic competition. Now the BOA has some numbers to go along with that statement. In a report released last week the group that said if the Summer Olympics had been …

China’s role in the “War on Terror” (WOT) has been among the murkier subjects of the last five years–not a lot of facts known about it. People tend to break into two camps: 1) China has used the WOT as an excuse to further clamp down on the beleaguered Uighers. 2) No, there’s a real issue there, just look at the geopgraphy and where …

As anyone remotely paying attention for the last two years could have told you, Iran’s effort to develop nuclear weapons now lies uncommfortably in the laps of Beijing and Moscow. It was as a sop to the United States and its European allies that both agreed to give Iran the 60 day grace period to come into compliance with the Security …

What’s the hottest place in China? Tibet, it seems. Last year officials predicted the number of visitors to the remote, mountainous region would rise by 44% over 2005. The reason is the rail line that was complete last year, the first to link Tibet to the rest of the country. Now it seems those debates about whether the train would bring …

A not bad piece on Xinhua about a growing problem for the Chinese leadership: college grads who either can’t find a job at all, or are severely underemployed. Ask yourself a question: if you’re sitting in Zhongnanhai, which is more likely to get your attention: brain dead protectionists in Congress in the United States (whose party now …

Just before Christmas I was hearing a lot of buzz in Washington from current and former Bush administration types about China playing a more forceful role in trying to get the Sudanese government to rein in the militias it continues to back. And as this WSJ editorial indicates, Andrew Natsios of the State Department was fairly upbeat …