Suggested Readings: March 1-7, 2018

作者：Robert A. Kapp  来源：US-China Perception Monitor

March 1-7,2018

THE “TWO MEETINGS” – CHINESE PEOPLE’S POLITICAL CONSULTATIVE CONFERENCE AND NATIONAL PEOPLE’S CONGRESS, UNDERWAY THIS WEEK

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-03/05/c_137015955.htm Xi Jinping celebrates the Chinese system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation led by the Communist Party of China (CPC) “a great contribution to political civilization of humanity.” Worth a read, for its robust statement that the Chinese system is “new” on the stage of human history.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-03/05/c_137016438.htm Highlights of the Premier’s “Government Work Report,” the big document of the Congress’s opening day. 2018 targets, etc. A reference work. These “highlights” are extremely skeletal, however.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2135811/china-reaffirms-goals-rebalance-economy-reduce-poverty-and South China Morning Post writeup on the main economic contents of the Premier’s “Work Report” to the NPC. See also this “Takeaways” effort to distill the vastness of this annual address into digestible main points: http://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2135733/china-nutshell-read-our-potted-guide-premier-li-keqiangs-annual

http://www.andrewerickson.com/2018/03/xis-strong-military-dream-chinas-defense-budget-to-grow-8-1-to-175-billion-this-year-rate-exceeds-6-5-economic-growth-target/ A vast one-stop shop by defense analyst Andrew Erickson, starting with the announced 8.1% rise in officially budgeted military spending for the coming year.

https://tinyurl.com/y7h6ujw8 Prof. Minxin Pei, who has never been a fan of the Beijing regime, with a tough and dark interview about the CCP, the PRC, and the misapprehensions of many Western analysts over many years.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-sets-2018-economic-growth-target-at-about-6-5-1520210171 A useful report, in the instant analysis category, on Premier Li Keqiang’s “Government Work Report” at the NPC on its first day. This site offers as well useful links to other key NPC documents as made available at the opening of the Congress.

http://english.gov.cn/state_council/ministries/2018/03/06/content_281476068523694.htm A short, official article on plans to improve the foreign investment climate, per Li Keqiang’s message to the NPC. Some itemization of intended changes, but no details.

LEADERSHIP AND DOMESTIC POLITICS

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-03/04/c_137015187.htm Official Statement on China’s new “supervisory system” being established this week to fight corruption across the entirety of party and government.

http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2135208/under-xi-jinping-return-china-dangers-all-powerful-leader?utm_content=buffer5ef9b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer Longtime contemporary China specialist David Shambaugh’s take on the constitution revisions set to eliminate term limits for the post of President of the PRC: de-institutionalization and reversal of the Deng Xiaoping attempts to stabilize Chinese politics by rebuilding institutional structures after Mao and the Cultural Revolution. 50-year setback.

https://apnews.com/6e93f717d1d44f9cb7d342d8a1c2eb52 A gloomy and forbidding AP report as the National People’s Congress prepares to eliminate term limits on China’s presidency, one of Xi Jinping’s triad of top party and government posts.

U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS

http://carnegieendowment.org/2018/03/02/creating-unstable-asia-u.s.-free-and-open-indo-pacific-strategy-pub-75720 MUST READ. Michael Swaine of Carnegie with a withering criticism of the Trump Administration’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy, embodying zero-sum assumptions about Sino-American relations. Swaine is courageous in the face of a tidal wave of calamitous visions of China and U.S.-China relations.

https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2018/february/trump-administration-sends-annual USTR press release accompanying issuance of the annual Trade Policy Agenda. Link to the full document may be found at this site.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-03-02/china-stands-to-gain-from-donald-trump-s-steel-tariffs On this multi-article web site, see Michael Schuman, “Who Gains from Trump’s Tariffs? China”

https://tinyurl.com/ydxtdmzo FT senior commentator Martin Wolf with a lucid economics lesson covering trade deficits, tariffs, macroeconomics. Not China-specific, but certainly China-relevant. (Paywall)

http://www.chinafile.com/conversation/how-will-trumps-tariffs-affect-us-china-relations Meaningful multi-person (the list will grow) commentaries on the proposed Trump tariffs on steel and aluminum as regards China in particular, but also from a global perspective.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-07/the-u-s-businesses-at-risk-from-trade-war-with-china-quicktake No particular surprises in this list-with-commentary of U.S. companies (and sectors) most likely to take the hit if China retaliates against U.S. trade penalties.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-envoy-holds-trade-talks-with-u-s-officials-1519957790 WSJ early report on visit to D.C. of Liu He, expected to become Vice Premier in charge of the Economy, for meetings with top USG officials. Just as Trump announces steel and aluminum tariff hikes.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-02/top-xi-aide-is-said-to-promise-u-s-ceos-action-on-china-reforms Liu He, slated to be the top economic official in the PRC government, in D.C., tells a closed business audience he’s the man and asks the US to tell China what it really wants, economically. In fact, through myriad channels, the US has been making it clear to China for years what is bothering it. Now, with U.S. acting erratically or worse on trade, telling China what the U.S. demands, all over again, risks running into the familiar wall of “Look how badly YOU are behaving.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/chinese-firm-wins-case-intellectual-property-180303133743440.html An Al Jazeera video report on Chinese firms fighting, and winning, IP cases in US courts.

https://tinyurl.com/y9tt3ovq The Economist, with its familiar magisterial style packaging plain-vanilla content, sums up the “Collapse of Optimism” among Western, particularly U.S., views on China after three decades of, they say, mistaken judgments and expectations as to how China would evolve. Not a bad summary of what is sweeping across the policy-making/ “thought leader”/ “China expert” ranks these days. What happened? Plenty of explanatory elements on both sides of the Pacific. (Paywall with profit-driven exceptions).

https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2018/february/trump-administration-sends-annual USTR press release accompanying issuance of the annual Trade Policy Agenda. Link to the full document may be found at this site.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-03-02/china-stands-to-gain-from-donald-trump-s-steel-tariffs On this multi-article web site, see Michael Schuman, “Who Gains from Trump’s Tariffs? China”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-washington-is-so-obsessed-with-chinas-huawei-1520373341 After CFIUS intervenes to delay the possibility that Singapore’s Broadcom might take over Qualcomm, WSJ probes the reasons for Washington’s apparent obsession with the dangers posed by Huawei. Hint – it’s future market dominance, not stealthy “back doors” these days.

Military

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/03/01/china-to-develop-its-first-nuclear-powered-aircraft-carrier/

Development of aircraft carriers underway. Useful discussion of what requires what.

http://www.chinafile.com/conversation/chinas-military-spending Thoughtful analyses by knowledgeable Westerners of China’s current and future military development, following the announcement of intended 8.1% increase in military expenditures over 2017 (as the contributors note, numbers like that mean very little without further data seldom forthcoming). This will be an expanding set of contributors, in the usual Chinafile manner.

MISC.

https://stephenjones.blog/2017/11/20/gaoluo-women/ Absolutely fantastic ethnography. Micro-society life. Women. Catholicism. History. Engrossing reading.

http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1001694/war%2C-hardship%2C-and-separation-portraits-of-a-changing-china A beautiful short essay built around “old photos.”

http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2018-03/07/content_50676772.htm Top grossing films last week. The Number 1 film is worth reading about.

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2018-03/07/content_50676559.htm The toilet revolution continues. This is, in fact, a serious matter.

来源时间：2018/3/10   发布时间：2018/3/8

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