Barron’s (January 26)
“A chilling effect has spread throughout the Communist Party ranks as President Xi Jinping intensifies his crackdown on corruption. Those fears are beginning to extend into China’s business world” where the private sector is increasingly “nervous because of the size and scope of Xi’s campaign to rid insubordination or perceived enemies throughout the government and public sector.” In 2024, the campaign’s scope expanded by roughly 46%, with authorities disciplining 889,000 people, “the highest annual total since the party began releasing such data nearly 20 years ago.”
Tags: Authorities, Chilling, China, Communist party, Corruption, Crackdown, Disciplining, Enemies, Fears, Government, Insubordination, Nervous, Private-sector, Xi
Bloomberg (February 19)
China’s Communist Party appears poised to “play a bigger role in steering its vast technology industry, the latest sign that Beijing intends to exert more influence over swathes of the world’s No. 2 economy.” In response, shares in the nation’s listed chipmakers “slid more than 2% as investors pondered the ramifications of greater state control, which has yielded mixed results so far.”
Tags: Beijing, China, Chipmakers, Communist party, Influence, Investors, Mixed results, No. 2 economy, Ramifications, Shares, State control, Steering. Technology industry
Washington Post (December 21)
“China’s new covid nightmare could become a global catastrophe. The absence of a coherent fallback strategy” not only “threatens a fresh set of nightmares for its population, its economy and the Communist Party leadership. A new crisis could shake the whole world. As the Wuhan outbreak demonstrated three years ago, what begins in China does not necessarily stay there.”
Tags: China, Communist party, Covid, Crisis, Economy, Fallback strategy, Global catastrophe, Leadership, Nightmare, Outbreak, Population, Threatens, Wuhan
Washington Post (November 29)
“After so many months of insisting that the Communist Party and Mr. Xi know best — that rigid ‘zero covid’ is the only correct approach — changing course would imply they erred. China’s economy and its people’s health depend on whether this authoritarian system can respond to the voices of protest, ditch its own propaganda and show flexibility.”
Tags: Authoritarian system, Changing course, China, Communist party, Economy, Erred, Health, People, Propaganda, Protest, Rigid, Xi, Zero COVID
The Economist (October 13)
“The Communist Party has always been obsessed with control. But under President Xi Jinping that obsession has deepened. After three decades of opening and reform under previous leaders, China has in many ways become more closed and autocratic under Mr Xi.” The obsessive control is, however, weakening China.
Tags: Autocratic, China, Communist party, Control, Leaders, Obsessed, Opening, Reform, Xi
The Economist (June 15)
The majority of Hong Kong’s courageous protestors were “young—too young to be nostalgic about British rule. Their unhappiness at Beijing’s heavy hand was entirely their own…. The Communist Party has been making clear that it will tolerate no more insubordination—and yet three days later demonstrators braved rubber bullets, tear gas and legal retribution to make their point. All these things are evidence that, as many Hong Kongers see it, nothing less than the future of their city is at stake.”
Tags: Beijing, British, Bullets, Communist party, Courageous, Future, Heavy hand, Hong Kong, Insubordination, Nostalgic, Protestors, Tear gas, Young
New York Times (December 27)
A quarter century ago Tiananmen appeared to signal the downfall of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Today, “the world’s largest political organization, with 86 million members, seems as robust as ever.” Despite this seeming success, the CCP remains riddled with contradictions and insecurity over everything from protests to environmental catastrophe, a housing bubble and slowing growth. “The dark side of the Chinese dream — the negative fantasy that haunts China’s psyche — explains why Mr. Xi, the strongest Chinese leader since Deng, is so skittish, so ready to jump at shadows.”
Tags: China, Communist party, Contradictions, Deng, Environment, Growth, Housing bubble, Insecurity, Protests, Robust, Tiananmen, Xi
Financial Times (March 4)
The Chinese Government appears to be getting serious about tackling air pollution. “The danger is that the leadership of the Communist party will conclude that it needs fast growth more than it needs clean air, clean soil and clean rivers. That would be a mistake.”
Tags: Air pollution, China, Clean air, Clean rivers, Clean soil, Communist party, Government, Growth, Leadership
Wall Street Journal (August 22)
Bo Xilai, the former political powerhouse of Chonqing, is approaching trial. He has already “undermined three core claims of the Communist Party. First, that the national leadership is unified. Second, that the process of selecting the next generation of leaders is institutionalized. And finally that open struggle for power like that seen during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution can never happen again.”
Institutional Investor (October)
“Lenovo’s rise is more than a corporate success story. It demonstrates the powerful potential of China Inc. to expand beyond low-end manufacturing and develop global brands. The company also reflects the uniquely hybrid nature of most of corporate China: It is a product of a Communist Party-ruled state—the government still owns 36 percent of its parent, Legend—but it competes vigorously in the global market.”
Tags: China Inc., Communist party, Competition, Global brand, Legend, Lenovo
