Avoiding controversial questions and sticking closely to the script, three leading candidates jostling for a spot on the Communist Party’s apex of power made rare public appearances on the sidelines of China’s annual meeting of parliament on Monday.
The president has described his border proposal as ‘the Great Wall of Trump,’ evoking what one expert sees as a calamitous and ill-conceived folly
China’s announcement of the smallest percentage increase to its military budget since 2010—around 7% (to approximately $148 billion)—seems designed in part to project the image of being the sober, peaceful force in the Asia-Pacific sphere.
Chinese authorities have shut down activist Ye Haiyan’s blogs and forced her to move from one city to another. Left with few options, she now produces socially conscious paintings to make a living and advocate for the rights of sex workers and people with HIV or AIDS.
British comedian John Oliver recently flew to the north Indian town of Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama has lived in exile for more than five decades.
The story reveals more about the exercise of power in China than any interview ever could. It is one that involves violence, intimidation and a forced confession—in which I found myself apologizing for “behavior causing a bad impact” and for trying to conduct an “illegal interview.”
Jane Perlez is The New York Times bureau chief in Beijing. She writes about China’s foreign policy, in particular its relations with the United States and its Asian neighbors.
Her first foreign assignment for The New York Times was in East Africa covering civil conflict and famine. She has served as bureau chief in Kenya, Poland, Austria, Indonesia and Pakistan. She was a member of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for reporting in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Curbing wasteful socialist-era business practices and taming unruly real estate and lending sectors will take center stage at the annual meeting of China’s legislature, which starts next week, with some also looking for signs of a pickup in economic growth.
