By Jane Macartney President Xi Jinping is arguably the most powerful Chinese leader since Chairman Mao and certainly the first to foster a similar personality cult. He must have relished burnishing his image last week by riding through London with the Queen in a...
China has drawn scorn for its efforts to propping up share prices. But President Xi Jinping may yet end up being the reformer China and the world need. A shadow of a man at the People’s Bank of China in Beijing, 11 August 2015. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) The Chinese...
This article is part of a News-Decoder series of “decoders” that explain crucial background to big issues. For more decoders, click here. As the most populous country in the world with one of the fastest growing economies, China is projected by many to be...
(This article was originally published by the Asia Society on ChinaFile.) By David Schlesinger When things hit their extreme, they can only move to the opposite direction — 物极必反 (wù jí bì fǎn) — is an idiom that seems to sum up perfectly punditry about...
By Alan Wheatley There are many reasons to be worried about the course of China’s economy over the next year or two. The roller-coaster ride of the stock market is not one of them. But the longer-term implications of the recent 30% slide in Shanghai share prices – or,...
Mainland China has 2 stock markets: Shanghai and Shenzhen. Hong Kong has an independent stock exchange that is not directly linked to the crisis. Chinese stock prices rose some 150% between July 2014 and June 2015, peaking on June 12. Chinese authorities reacted by...
You might think Sri Lanka would be small change for Asia’s two powerhouses. But maneuvering by China and India underscores the strategic importance both attach to the island nation. Called Ceylon in English until 1972, Sri Lanka occupies a strategic location in the...
By Jane Macartney China’s ruling Communist Party has just announced it will put on trial its most senior official to be arrested for corruption since the Party swept to power more than 65 years ago. It is a part of a campaign by Party chief and President Xi Jinping to...
By Alan Wheatley The dollar bestrides the globe. How are oil, copper and other commodities priced and traded? In dollars. Unsure what currency to take to a faraway country? Best take dollars. How does every nation measure the strength of its currency? By how much it...
By David Schlesinger When China suddenly declared a military zone in the East China Sea in November 2014, many countries said they were concerned and many analysts worried this could be an act that could set off mistakes and misunderstandings that might lead to...