China: What’s Going Right?
MICHAEL ZHAO, JAMES FALLOWS, ORVILLE SCHELL (& authors)Michael Zhao:On a recent trip to China, meeting mostly with former colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, I got a dose of optimism and hope for one aspect of the motherland. In terms of science, or laying down a solid foundation for better science to come, things are...
What’s China’s Game in the Middle East?
RACHEL BEITARIE, MASSOUD HAYOUN, TAI MING CHEUNGRachel Beitarie:Xi Jinping’s four point proposal for a Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement is interesting not so much for its content, as for its source. While China has maintained the appearance of being involved in Middle East politics for years, its top leaders, so far,...
A Progress Report on U.S.-China Energy & Climate Change...
LEAH THOMPSONIn his second inaugural address, President Barack Obama committed to confronting climate change, stating, “The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it.” These were welcome words...
Airpocalypse Now: China’s Tipping Point?
ALEX WANG, ORVILLE SCHELL, ELIZABETH ECONOMY (& authors)The recent run of air pollution in China, we now know, has been worse than the air quality in airport smoking lounges. At its worst, Beijing air quality has approached levels only seen in the United States during wildfires.All of the comparisons to London, Los Angeles, and New...
Russia’s Siberian Dams Power “Electric Boilers”...
CHINADIALOGUEThe underdeveloped, sparsely populated Eastern Siberia region that shares a 4,000-kilometer border with China has vast resources to offer its heavily populated and fast-developing neighbor. Hydroelectricity is key among them.A major new hydroelectric plant commissioned on October...
China’s Low-carbon Zones Lack Motivation, Guidance,...
CHINADIALOGUENone of China’s so-called low-carbon industrial zones currently live up to the name. That’s the conclusion to draw from the work of the U.S. Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC), which this year released a guide for the development of green industrial parks in China....
Growth
JAMES WHITLOW DELANOThe photographer James Whitlow Delano says he finds beauty in melancholy. For more than two decades, he has sought it out around the edges of the often ebullient story of China’s economic rise. His book Empire: Impressions from China, published in 2005, focused on loss of...
Chinese Fear Price Hikes After Electricity Reforms
CHINADIALOGUEThis summer, Chinese people have been thinking twice before turning on their air conditioners.In July, tiered electricity pricing came into effect across China, except in the far western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. This means the people who consume the most electricity will...
Data Gaps Hobble Carbon Trading
CHINADIALOGUELate last October, China’s top economic planning body—the National Development and Reform Commission—instructed the cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, and Shenzhen, plus Hubei and Guangdong provinces, to get ready to run carbon-trading trials.{...
Shedding Light on the Solar Crisis
CAIXINAfter Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd., a Wuxi-headquartered photovoltaic cell producer, went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005, China’s solar industry grew at an astonishing speed. More than 200 photovoltaic product manufacturers are operating in Zhejiang province...
LDK Solar Owes Twenty Suppliers 600 Million Yuan
CAIXINDebt-ridden Jiangxi LDK Solar has defaulted on at least 600 million yuan in unpaid bills for raw materials and equipment, twenty suppliers say.“Starting from late last year, LDK Solar was delinquent on 15 million yuan to our company,” Liu Qingfeng, sales manager of a silica...
Economic Ties that Bind
CAIXINLabor leader Wayne Swan has his finger on the pulse of the Australian economy as the nation’s deputy prime minister and treasurer, which means he’s well-equipped to explain factors defining the increasingly robust relationship between China and Australia.The period since...