China’s New Leadership_Chatham_2013. China at the Tipping Point. What will be the future of China’s authoritarian political system? Many predicted that China’s rapid development over the past several decades would inevitably lead to gradual liberalization. Economic growth was expected to generate a cascade of changes—first to society, then law, and eventually politics. Events appeared to confirm these projections. As Chinese authorities opened up the economy in the late twentieth century, they also launched sweeping reforms of the nation’s legislative and judicial institutions. The events of the past decade, however, have called these assumptions into question. From 2000 to 2011, per capita GDP in China more than quintupled, skyrocketing from US$949 to $5,445. These shifts have choked off institutions for venting dissatisfaction and redressing ills that are key to the CCP’s continued resilience as an authoritarian regime.
China may indeed be at a tipping point. Reforms continued throughout the 1990s. They institutionalized CCP rule. President Xi promises to shake off GDP obsession in promoting officials. BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping Saturday noted that China would never assess the performance of an official simply based on his record of boosting economy. The Communist Party of China (CPC) should adopt more comprehensive criteria for assessing the performance of its officials, said Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, at a meeting on the work of personnel resources on the eve of the 92nd founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
It should consider a local official's work in various aspects including people's livelihood, the development of local society and the quality of environment. "We should never judge a cadre simply by the growth of gross domestic product (GDP)," he said. When promoting officials, the CPC organization departments should consider integrity as a priority and then capability, he said.
They must serve the people heart and soul, exercise their power carefully and resist corruption, he said.
China deals with Bo Xilai case before leadership congress. Xi's War Drums - By John Garnaut. Every morning at 6 a.m., more than two dozen of the world’s leading submarine watchers, aviation experts, government specialists, imagery analysts, cryptanalysts, and linguists gather at the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii. Their job is to probe the overnight intelligence reports to guide the activities and strategies of the five aircraft carrier groups, 180 ships, and nearly 2,000 aircraft that constantly patrol the Pacific and Indian oceans. The morning meetings are convened by the fleet’s top intelligence officer, Capt. James Fanell, and cover activities emanating anywhere “from Hollywood to Bollywood,” as the head of U.S. Fanell, in comments that went largely unnoticed outside the small circle of China military specialists, spelled out in rare detail the reasons the United States is shifting 60 percent of its naval assets — including its most advanced capabilities — to the Pacific.
FOR XI, this is no idle question. It won’t be for lack of trying. Guang Niu/EPA. China's New Leadership - Hopes for Reform and Fear of Uncertainty - 02 - 2013. LSE Asia Research Centre and LSE IDEAS panel discussion Date: Wednesday 13 February 2013 Time: 6.30-8pm Venue: TW1 G.01, Tower 1, LSE Speakers: Professor Athar Hussain, Dr Debin Ma, Professor Arne Westad Chair: Professor Stephan Feuchtwang (EVENT UPDATE: Change to venue. This event will no longer take place in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre as previously advertised. The event will now be located in TW1, G.01, Tower 1, LSE) The 18th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party held last November saw a wholesale replacement of the old with a new Party leadership. Professor Athar Hussain is director of the LSE Asia Research Centre. This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Podcast A podcast of this event is available to download from China's New Leadership - Hopes for Reform and Fear of Uncertainty|.
Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel|. Heirs of Mao’s Comrades Rise as New Capitalist Nobility. Lying in a Beijing military hospital in 1990, General Wang Zhen told a visitor he felt betrayed. Decades after he risked his life fighting for an egalitarian utopia, the ideals he held as one of Communist China’s founding fathers were being undermined by the capitalist ways of his children -- business leaders in finance, aviation and computers. “Turtle eggs,” he said to the visiting well-wisher, using a slang term for bastards. “I don’t acknowledge them as my sons.” Two of the sons now are planning to turn a valley in northwestern China where their father once saved Mao Zedong’s army from starvation into a $1.6 billion tourist attraction. One son behind the project, Wang Jun, helped build two of the country’s biggest state-owned empires: Citic Group Corp (CITIC)., the state-run investment behemoth that was the first company to sell bonds abroad since the revolution; and China Poly Group Corp.
Today, the 71-year-old Wang Jun is considered the godfather of golf in China. Swiss School U.S. Questions for China’s democracy opponents. This post, for example, made after Ma Ying-jeou’s victory Saturday by Hong Kong journalist Luqiu Luwei (闾丘露薇), was still being shared and discussed today: Just to give readers a sense of the microblog-based reach someone like Luqiu Luwei can have, she has a reported following on Sina Weibo of close to 1.3 million. And while followers for VIP account holders can be inflated by microblog service providers in China, there is no doubt Luqiu’s following is substantial. In response to the Luqiu Luwei post above, one mainland user on Sina Weibo wrote: “[Chinese] authorities, why do you fear elections?” On that note we turn here to one of the most interesting pieces to appear on domestic microblogs in China this month on the question of democracy in China. Posted on January 6, this version of the image-as-text file was shared more than 9,000 times on Sina Weibo, drawing close to 2,300 comments as of January 17.
Is China Becoming a Mafia State? - John Garnaut. "The Myth of Chinese Meritocracy" by Minxin Pei. Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA – Political scandals sometimes perform a valuable function in cleansing governments. They destroy the political careers of individuals of dubious character. More importantly, they can debunk political myths central to the legitimacy of some regimes. That appears to be the case with the Bo Xilai affair in China. One enduring political myth that went down with Bo, the former Communist Party boss of Chongqing municipality, is the notion that the Party’s rule is based on meritocracy.
In many ways, Bo personified the Chinese concept of “meritocracy” – well-educated, intelligent, sophisticated, and charming (mainly to Western executives). Bo’s rise to power owed much to his pedigree (his father was a vice premier), his political patrons, and his manipulation of the rules of the game. Unfortunately, Bo’s case is not the exception in China, but the rule. Read more from our “China’s Scandalous Politics” Focal Point. In thrall of the empire of the sons. Blood ties ... Some of China’s most respected public intellectuals are warning that Chinese society and the economy are being held hostage to the wealth-maximising requirements of the political elite.
Photo: AP When the kingmaker of Chinese politics, Zeng Qinghong, asked to see quintessential Australia, his diplomatic minders treated him first to jugs of beer and an oversized fillet steak at Brisbane's Breakfast Creek Hotel. Next stop was Sydney, where he dropped into Rupert Murdoch's Fox studios and was introduced to Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor on the set of Moulin Rouge. Zeng was then taken for a leisurely early dinner at Lachlan Murdoch and Sarah O'Hare's mansion, in Wolseley Road, Point Piper.
Zeng had clearly enjoyed taking off his tie, rolling up his sleeves, and bantering with the punters at the Brekky Creek, but he was even more impressed with the Murdochs' stunning harbour views. Bo Guagua ... Advertisement Zeng Wei ... Winston Wen ... Jiang Mianheng ... China: Money, power and politics - Counting the Cost. We all know China has got money, but where does it come from? And how wise or controversial is it to have China's billions tied up in political circles? This week on Counting the Cost, we find out where China's riches and influence really come from - especially as there is about to be a leadership change there at next month's National People's Congress (NPC).
China is increasingly a communist country in name only. It has embraced capitalism - being an economic powerhouse, "the world's factory". But that prosperity extends well into the political echelons, in some very non-communist ways. Bo Xilai, the politician who was publically expelled from the Communist Party, managed to amass $1.3bn, and in the process sent his son to a public school in Britain - whilst preaching communist ideals. Ling Jihua, a close ally of President Hu Jintao, was demoted from the party's politburo general office. The richest is soft-drinks entrepreneur Zong Qinghou, who is also the 23rd richest in the world.