Suggested Readings: August 24-31, 2018
作者：Robert A. Kapp 来源：US-China Perception Monitor
August 24-31
PRC Domestic
https://tinyurl.com/yawjovym A heart-stopping, eloquent essay by a young Chinese writer living in the U.S., occasioned by her mother’s medical crisis in their hometown of Shanghai.
https://www.weekinchina.com/2018/08/inside-the-harem/ Raging battle between two boffo TV drama series, both set in the court of Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong Emperor. Literally billions of viewers. “Tales of the Yanxi Palace” seems to be on top. (For US readers: The Qianlong Reign, (1735-1796) represented the apogee of power and prosperity of China’s final imperial dynasty, just before the decay and repeated catastrophes of the 19th century).
https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2161377/why-do-so-many-chinese-study-abroad-when-local-universities-are-already Why do so many Chinese students seek to study abroad, especially in the U.S., when Chinese universities now are so highly developed?
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2161258/new-set-chinese-economic-figures-adds-yet-another-headache Unending uncertainty about Chinese economic statistics. An illuminating article.
https://www.businessinsider.com/china-economy-slows-prompting-infrastructure-stimulus-before-us-tariffs-2018-8 A brief, comprehensible account of the “Catch-22” dilemma facing PRC leadership as the economy slows and US trade war rises: continue to “de-leverage” in order to reduce the spectre of bad debt throughout the economy, or reopen the infrastructure spigot to keep the economy humming, at the risk of reversing the “deleveraging” trend and sinking the country in vast amounts of new bad debt.
https://www.weekinchina.com/2018/08/fresh-scandal-over-safety/?dm Crisis hits online ride-hailing giant Didi after a second murder of a passenger by a driver. Implications broader, though, as social downsides of booming online businesses gain greater recognition.
PRC Global
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-24/china-removes-foreign-ownership-limits-in-banks-asset-managers PRC proceeds with promised market-opening moves in the banking sector even as US-PRC tariff volleys worsen.
https://tinyurl.com/y896k2o6 This article discusses PRC energy projects along the Belt and Road, many of them for coal powered generating plants, but it argues that it is China’s massive effort at power transmission infrastructure development that will ultimately make possible the development of renewable power along the BRI routes, while establishing China as the core of a vast multi-regional power grid.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/xi-jinpings-aggressive-pursuit-of-global-power-triggers-a-praiseworthy-backlash/2018/08/30/aed131b4-a636-11e8-97ce-cc9042272f07_story.html?utm_term=.93c3d46b241b&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1 Washington Post editorial reveals a lot about where the US and China are heading. Here the WaPo focuses on perceived international “pushback” against Xi Jinping’s globally ambitious policies and China’s conduct toward BRI partners and others.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/world/asia/china-navy-aircraft-carrier-pacific.html NYT on Chinese massively increased seapower in the East and South China Seas, where the US Navy has cruised confidently since World War II.
U.S.-PRC
https://www.csis.org/analysis/pacnet-62-115th-congress-aligns-trump-administration-targeting-china Robert Sutter, one of the longest-serving China specialists in the Washington, D.C. academic/think tank/government circuit, on the alignment of the current U.S. Congress with Trump in strong positions of distrust or hostility toward the PRC. An important read for those not concerned daily with these matters.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/principles-for-managing-u-s-china-competition/?utm_campaign=John%20L.%20Thornton%20China%20Center&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=65608023 A modest, constructive, but
somewhat wistful article offering suggestions on how the US and China might
begin to “manage” their currently degraded relations.
https://tinyurl.com/y6w3tfbb More tariff tit-for-tat. A very interesting interview with Finance Minister Liu Kun.
https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/clm57-bn-final.pdf UCSD Economist Barry Naughton on Chinese economic policy responses to the Trump assault, starting with the observation that “tit for tat” policy has been a failure already.
http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018-08-29/detail-ifyxikfc9645412.shtml A Chinese website offers examples of U.S. small business testimony opposing pending US “Section 301” tariffs. Full coverage of the massive USTR hearings, involving more than 350 testimony submissions, still has not been made available by USTR: cameras were barred and recording devices were prohibited.
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IF10958.pdf Congressional Research Service backgrounder for Members of Congress on major US trade disputes since Smoot-Hawley (1930). Very handy guide.
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/IF10952.pdf A handy introduction, produced for Members of Congress not well in formed on the subject, to newly-enacted changes affecting the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the agency that reviews – and can block – proposed foreign acquisitions of U.S. properties or firms. Much of the Congressional excitement has focused on PRC mergers and acquisitions.
http://time.com/5375727/peter-navarro/?xid=tcoshare A colorful portrait of Trump’s top China whisperer, Peter Navarro, in Time Magazine.
https://tinyurl.com/yccaxe9z A long and highly informative, critical interview with Amb. Chas Freeman, whose ability to express himself, without notes, on complex historical and current China policy issues is unique and valuable. Do not listen while driving; listen in the quiet of a late evening.
https://thediplomat.com/2018/08/why-the-us-trade-war-on-china-is-doomed-to-fail/ A detailed argument that, by misreading Chinese economic condition (assuming weakness), Washington’s prosecution of a tariff war will fail. Interesting analysis with useful hyperlinks.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2161889/expect-deep-structural-change-ties-between-china-and-us Chinese experts’ views that the US-China conflict has become more than economic and is now geostrategic. This is, in your editor’s view, a huge tragedy for which responsibility resides in both nations.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2018/08/31/ford-wont-sell-new-focus-crossover-u-s/1156315002/ Autos. Trump tariffs lead Ford to cancel plans to import a vehicle from China. This coverage, from the Detroit News, is useful for its informed discussion of issues facing Ford and the U.S. auto sector.
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/chinese-communist-party-funds-washington-think-tanks/ Baying hounds. A longtime, formerly fringe but lately less so, crusading “journalist” alleges a vast CCP plot to influence major U.S. think tanks, colleges and universities, etc.
来源时间：2019/6/5 发布时间：2018/8/31
旧文章ID：18865
