Vatican, Eager for China Ties, Asks ‘Underground’ Bishops to Step Aside

Ian Johnson
New York Times
The decision in December came amid what observers describe as an extraordinary effort by the Vatican to advance negotiations to restore ties with Beijing after a nearly 70-year schism among Catholics in the world’s most populous nation.

China’s Retired Anti-Graft Tsar Wang Qishan Holds on to Top Legislature Spot to Stay in the Political Game

Jun Mai
South China Morning Post
Wang is set to take on the vice-presidency but his power will depend on what Xi Jinping needs him to do, analyst says.

Taiwan Retaliates Against Chinese Airlines, Hampering Lunar New Year Travel

Chris Horton
New York Times
Tens of thousands of Taiwanese working in China are at risk of being unable to return home for the Lunar New Year in mid-February as a result of an escalating battle over airspace in the Taiwan Strait.

Theresa May Declines to Endorse China’s Belt and Road Initiative

George Parker
Financial Times
UK prime minister to raise concerns on visit aimed at boosting trade ties.

U.S. Firms in China Fear Fallout from Tit-For-Tat Trade War

Wendy Wu
South China Morning Post
American business group says Beijing could target sectors to send a political message across the Pacific.

China “Gifted” the African Union a Headquarters Building and Then Allegedly Bugged It for State Secrets

Abdi Latif Dahir
Quartz
In an investigation published by French newspaper Le Monde, China, which also paid and built the computer network at the AU, allegedly inserted a backdoor that allowed it to transfer data.

How Trump’s Vulgar Comments Towards Africa Play Right into China’s Hands

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
Somali-British freelance journalist Ismail Einahse joins Eric and Cobus to discuss his recent opinion column, “Trump’s Insults Will Nudge African Nations Closer To China.” The article, published on NPR.org, reflects a contentious debate going on...

Features

01.26.18

A Most Immoral Woman: George E. Morrison's Life in Turn-of-the-Century China

Linda Jaivin
My historical novel “A Most Immoral Woman” tells the story of Morrison’s passionate and unconventional affair with Mae Perkins, an independent and wealthy young American libertine, in 1904. It’s a tale that roams the landscape of a dynasty in...

Books

01.26.18

A Village with My Name

Scott Tong
When journalist Scott Tong moved to Shanghai, his assignment was to start up the first full-time China bureau for Marketplace, the daily business and economics program on public radio stations across the United States. But for Tong, the move became much more—it offered the opportunity to reconnect with members of his extended family who had remained in China after his parents fled the communists six decades prior. By uncovering the stories of his family’s history, Tong discovered a new way to understand the defining moments of modern China and its long, interrupted quest to go global.A Village with My Name offers a unique perspective on the transitions in China through the eyes of regular people who have witnessed such epochal events as the toppling of the Qing monarchy, Japan’s occupation during World War II, exile of political prisoners to forced labor camps, mass death and famine during the Great Leap Forward, market reforms under Deng Xiaoping, and the dawn of the One Child Policy. Tong’s story focuses on five members of his family, who each offer a specific window on a changing country: a rare American-educated girl born in the closing days of the Qing Dynasty, a pioneer exchange student, an abandoned toddler from World War II who later rides the wave of China’s global export boom, a young professional climbing the ladder at a multinational company, and an orphan (the author’s daughter) adopted in the middle of a baby-selling scandal fueled by foreign money. Through their stories, Tong shows us China anew, visiting former prison labor camps on the Tibetan plateau and rural outposts along the Yangtze, exploring the Shanghai of the 1930s, and touring factories across the mainland.With curiosity and sensitivity, Tong explores the moments that have shaped China and its people, offering a compelling and deeply personal take on how China became what it is today. —University of Chicago Press{chop}

Exclusive: China to Name Harvard-Trained Liu He as Vice Premier Overseeing Economy - Sources

Reuters
China is set to name Liu He, a Harvard-trained economist who advises President Xi Jinping, as a vice premier overseeing the economy and financial sector, five sources familiar with the development said.

Online Sales of Illegal Opioids from China Surge in U.S.

Ron Nixon
New York Times
Nearly $800 million worth of fentanyl pills were illegally sold to online customers in the United States over two years by Chinese distributors who took advantage of internet anonymity and an explosive growth in e-commerce, according to a Senate...

China ‘Holding at Least 120,000 Uighurs in Re-Education Camps’

Tom Phillips
Guardian
At least 120,000 members of China’s Muslim Uighur minority have been confined to political “re-education camps” redolent of the Mao era that are springing up across the country’s western borderlands, a report has claimed.

Media

01.24.18

China’s Animated Underbelly

Jonathan Landreth from China Film Insider
A tousled-haired young man in a third-tier Chinese city is desperate to fix the botched plastic surgery done on his fiancée’s face. At knifepoint, he steals a satchel of one million yuan from a local gangster, setting off a chain-reaction of greed...

Conversation

01.24.18

Is China Really a ‘Threat’ to the U.S.?

James Holmes, Zha Daojiong & more
In a move presaging tougher policies towards China, the Department of Defense’s National Defense Strategy announced that the “revisionist powers” China and Russia are the “central challenge to U.S. prosperity and security.” And on January 22, Donald...

Top U.S. Sanctions Envoy Presses China to Expel North Korean Agents

Jeremy Page and Ian Talley
Wall Street Journal
The Trump administration’s top sanctions envoy pressed China in high-level meetings this week to deliver on commitments to expel North Korean agents helping finance Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile programs.

‘Me Too,’ Chinese Women Say. Not so Fast, Say the Censors.

Javier C. Hernández and Zoe Mou
New York Times
They call themselves “silence breakers,” circulate petitions demanding investigations into sexual harassment and share internet memes like clenched fists with painted nails.

Taiwan President Says Does Not Exclude Possibility of China Attack

Reuters
“No one can exclude this possibility. We will need to see whether their policymakers are reasonable policymakers or not,” Tsai said in an interview on Taiwan television broadcast late on Monday, when asked whether China could attack Taiwan.

Viewpoint

01.23.18

Who’s to Blame for Hong Kong’s Weakening Rule of Law?

Alvin Y.H. Cheung
Rimsky Yuen, Hong Kong’s third Secretary for Justice, stepped down in early January. He leaves his department, and the city’s reputation for rule of law, markedly worse than they were when he took office in July 2012.According to the Department of...

Chinese Police Seize Publisher from Train in Front of Diplomats

Chris Buckley
New York Times
A Hong Kong-based book publisher with Swedish citizenship who was secretly spirited to China and held in custody for two years, igniting international controversy, has disappeared again in dramatic fashion — snatched from a train bound for Beijing...

Asia & Pacific China to U.S.: It’s Your Fault We Are in the South China Sea

Emily Rauhala
Washington Post
Beijing has a message for the Trump administration: The more ships you send to the contested waters of the South China Sea, the more we will bolster our presence there.

Trump Is 'Determined to Bite Somebody, and China Is the Most Likely Target,' Trade Expert Says

CNBC
A year after President Donald Trump took office, the United States' trade deficit with China looms larger than ever.

China to Enshrine Xi's Thought into State Constitution Amid National 'Fervor'

Reuters
China’s ruling Communist Party will enshrine President Xi Jinping’s political thought into the country’s constitution, state media said on Friday, further solidifying his power following its addition last year to the party constitution.

Old Kim Coal: Us Officials Release Satellite Photographs Which 'Show China Flouting Sanctions by Docking in North Korea and Loading up on Fuel'

Daily Mail
Chinese companies have been violating UN sanctions against trading with North Korea, according to U.S. officials.

Infographics

01.19.18

China According to Trump

Keeping up with the Trump administration’s statements on China and U.S.-China relations can be hard work. ChinaFile has just made it easier. Our new interactive database contains a growing collection of quotations from the President and senior...

China Asked Marriott to Shut down Its Website, the Company Complied

Washington Post
Marriott International is apologizing to the Chinese government—and changing its practices—after coming under fire for listing Hong Kong, Taiwan.

The Red Emperor

Roderick MacFarquhar from New York Review of Books
This fall, the Nineteenth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (C.C.P.) gave proof that during his five years as general secretary Xi Jinping has become the most powerful leader of China since Mao Zedong died in 1976. Most observers, Chinese and...

Joshua Wong Sentenced in Hong Kong for Role in Umbrella Movement

Alan Wong
New York Times
Mr. Wong had pleaded guilty to contempt of court for refusing to obey a court order to leave a protest site in the last days of demonstrations, known as the Umbrella Movement, that paralyzed parts of Hong Kong without winning any political...

Amid Tension, China Carrier Group Sails through Taiwan Strait

Fabian Hamacher, Jess Macy Yu
Reuters
A Chinese carrier group has sailed through the narrow Taiwan Strait that separates the self-ruled island from its giant neighbor but no unusual activity was detected, Taiwan said on Wednesday, amid heightened tension with Beijing.

China accuses U.S. of “Cold War thinking” with North Korea summit

CBS News
China on Wednesday said “Cold War thinking” was behind a meeting of U.S. allies on how to deal with North Korea's nuclear threat, adding that the gathering risks splitting international opinion over the issue.

Ex-C.I.A. Officer Suspected of Compromising Chinese Informants Is Arrested

Adam Goldman
New York Times
A former C.I.A. officer suspected by investigators of helping China dismantle United States spying operations and identify informants has been arrested, the Justice Department said on Tuesday. The collapse of the spy network was one of the American...

Trump’s Insults Will Nudge African Nations Closer to China

Ismail Einashe
NPR
Last week President Trump reportedly singled out Haiti, El Salvador and African nations as “shithole countries” whose people were not the kind of immigrants the United States wanted.

Xi Jinping Calls on Donald Trump to Revive Economic Dialogue Programme

Wendy Wu
South China Morning Post
The call comes as Washington ramps up talk of taking tough action against Beijing, including punitive tariffs, sanctions and even a trade war.

Delta Air Lines, Zara Join Marriott in China's Bad Books over Tibet, Taiwan Gaffes

South China Morning Post
The outrage in China over US hotel giant Marriott’s gaffe in which it listed Tibet, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan as independent countries, has spread to a clutch of other well-known international brands as angry internet users sought to “expose”...

How Myanmar Fits into China's Global Power Ambitions

Quartz
As the Myanmar government’s violent policy towards its Rohingya Muslims drew increasing international condemnation in 2016, the country’s sometime icon of democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, declined to speak out for the persecuted minority.

China's Xi supports progress in inter-Korean talks: South Korea's Blue House

Reuters
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday welcomed recent progress in inter-Korean talks during a telephone call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the South’s Blue House said in a statement.

China’s inexorable rise is helped by Trump’s retreat

Washington Post
The first stop on French President Emmanuel Macron's trip to China this week was, curiously, not Beijing. 

Conversation

01.10.18

Trump on China in 2018: Lover or Hater?

Ryan Hass, Aaron L. Friedberg & more
On December 28, 2017, Donald Trump told The New York Times “I like very much” China’s Communist Party Secretary Xi Jinping, adding, “He treated me better than anybody’s ever been treated in the history of China.” In the same interview, Trump also...

Emmanuel Macron Targets Deals during China State Visit

Lucy Hornby and Anne-Sylvaine Chassany
Financial Times
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to China’s imperial past during a state visit this week as he sought deals for French industry and co-operation on global issues such as climate change and terrorism.

Philippines to Protest to China over Apparent Airbase on Manmade Island

Reuters Staff
Reuters
The United States has criticized China’s build-up of military facilities on the artificial islands and is concerned they could be used to restrict free movement along the key trade route.

China’s Women Break Silence on Harassment as #MeToo Becomes #WoYeShi

Tom Phillips
Guardian
Beijing’s strict social control mean few have risked speaking out about misogyny but campaigners are beginning to make their voices heard.

China to Open Cultural Center in Jordan

Zhou Xin
Xinhua
China will launch a cultural centre to promote Chinese culture in Jordan and to enhance ties between the two countries, Chinese Ambassador to Jordan Pan Weifang said Monday.

Africa Is Changing China as Much as China Is Changing Africa

Lily Kuo
Quartz
In African countries, increasingly you find Chinese people who never meant to stay as long as they have. But now, they say they can’t go home, because being in Africa has changed them.

Trump Is Reportedly Targeting China in Aggressive Trade Crackdown

Sam Meredith
CNBC
President Donald Trump will unveil plans for an aggressive trade crackdown over the coming weeks, according to a report by Politico.

France’s Macron Visits China to Talk Fairer Trade and the Future

Rick Noack and James McAuley
Washington Post
As French President Emmanuel Macron began his three-day visit to China on Monday, he arrived with a bold message. “Europe is back,” he said.

Bitcoin Miners Are Shifting outside China amid State Clampdown

Bloomberg
As China’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies broadens to bitcoin miners, some of the industry’s biggest players are shifting operations overseas.

‘The Biggest Taboo’

Ian Johnson from New York Review of Books
One of China’s most influential artists is forty-eight-year-old Qiu Zhijie. A native of southern China’s Fujian province, Qiu studied art in the eastern city of Hangzhou before moving to Beijing in 1994 to pursue a career as a contemporary artist...

THANK YOU TRUMP: THAT TWEET WAS JUST WHAT CHINA NEEDED TO TAME PAKISTAN

South China Morning Post
In South Asia, there is one clear winner from Donald Trump’s tweet tantrums this week: China, which suddenly finds its leverage over Pakistan multiplying as a result of the US president’s mood swings.

As Koreas Agree to Talk, China Ups Pressure on the North

CBS News
South Korea said Friday that both Koreas had agreed to hold their first talks in more than two years on Tuesday. 

China Says It Will Limit Oil, Refined Product Exports to North Korea

CNBC
China's Commerce Ministry said on Friday it will limit exports of crude oil, refined oil products, steel and other metals to North Korea, in line with tough new sanctions imposed by the United Nations for Pyongyang's missile tests.

Chinese ‘Generation Zen’ Millennials Choosing Smartphones over Communist Values

Jamie Fullerton
Telegraph
China’s ruling communist party is concerned that swathes of politically apathetic millennials, branded the ‘Zen-generation’, are sauntering through life in a passive and unpatriotic way - raising doubts about their loyalty to the Chinese Communist...

China and the US ‘Are about to Ride a Bumpy Journey,’ State News Agency Says

Huileng Tan
CNBC
China warned of a “bumpy journey” in trade with the U.S. and “retaliatory measures” a day after Washington blocked MoneyGram's proposed sale to a financial services firm affiliated with Chinese tech giant Alibaba.

Http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/Macron-Heading-China-Strengthen-Economic-Ties-52133070

Samuel Petrequin
ABC
French President Emmanuel Macron will head to China next week to strengthen commercial ties with the world's second-largest economy.

China Land Grab on Lake Baikal Raises Russian Ire

Charles Clover and Archie Zhang
Financial Times
A sleepy tourist town on the shores of Siberia’s Lake Baikal has become an unlikely lightning rod among Russian nationalists after Chinese investors bought up properties on the town’s lakefront.

Trump Readies Tougher ‘America First’ Line for China Trade in 2018

David J. Lynch
Washington Post
The Trump administration is setting the stage to unveil tough new trade penalties against China early next year, moving closer to an oft-promised crackdown that some U.S. business executives fear will ignite a costly battle.

China to Look at Changing Its Constitution

Tom Mitchell
Financial Times
China’s Communist party will meet next month to deliberate revisions to the country’s state constitution that would mark the document’s first amendments since 2004.

China Says Part of Hong Kong Rail Station to Be Subject to Mainland Laws

Christian Shepherd, Venus Wu
Reuters
China’s parliament on Wednesday said part of a high-speed railway station being built in Hong Kong would be regarded as mainland territory governed by mainland laws, an unprecedented move that critics say further erodes the city’s autonomy.

Shifts in U.S. Global Leadership

Paul Haenle & Jake Sullivan from Carnegie China
Power in the world is increasingly being measured and exercised in economic terms with China, and other significant countries are already treating economic power as a core part of their statecraft. But Jake Sullivan, a former senior official in the...

AP Exclusive: Anger with China Drives Uighurs to Syria Fight

Associated Press
ABC
Since 2013, thousands of Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority from western China, have traveled to Syria to train with the Uighur militant group Turkistan Islamic Party and fight alongside al-Qaida.

China Tells U.S. Not to Be a 'Human Rights Judge' After Sanctions on Chinese Official

Reuters Staff
Reuters
Gao Yan was one of the targets of an executive order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday blocking the property of foreigners involved in human rights abuses.