Category: China

China’s Growth Augmented by the Diaspora

In 1995, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade published a 350-page report on overseas Chinese business networks, calling them ‘one of the main forces driving the dynamic growth that characterises the region’. This interest reflected the economic clout of the then 50-odd million diaspora Chinese — living mostly in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia. In the early 1990s, this diaspora was described as rivalling Japan as a business influence across Asia, with a collective wealth comparable to China’s GDP.

China’s Eventual Leadership Role

For a great power to lead the world there are a few qualities that it should bring to the table. These include, but are not limited to, material strength, an aspiration for recognition, and sufficient international support. Does China currently possess these qualities?

Is China’s Gender Equality Movement Taking a Backseat to Economic Growth?

One of the distinctive features of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Mao era was its commitment to women’s liberation. In April 1949, six months before the declaration of the People’s Republic, the first national women’s conference was held and the All-China Federation of Women was established.

One Belt, One Road, Many Factors

Since 2013, the ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR) initiative has become the centrepiece of China’s economic diplomacy. The essence of OBOR is to promote regional and cross-continental connectivity between China and Eurasia. The ‘One Belt’ and ‘One Road’ refer to China’s proposed ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’ and ‘Maritime Silk Road’.

Is China’s World Order Role Exaggerated?

China’s status within the prevailing global order has sparked one of the most contested debates in international affairs. For some, it evokes their worst fears over a rising revisionist power; for others it creates inflated expectations over what the Chinese leadership is willing to commit to within the global arena.

Old Urbanization Patterns Won’t Help a New China

China’s unprecedented growth since reforms began in the late 1970s has been accompanied by an equally transformative process of urbanisation. China’s urbanisation rate increased from 17.9 to 54.8 percent between 1978 and 2014, which represents the largest peacetime population movement in human history. The transfer of labour from the agricultural sector and rural areas to non-agricultural sectors and urban areas in China underwrote the world’s fastest sustained period of economic growth in the past three decades.

There is Something in the Water in China

Water and energy are indispensable inputs to modern economies. However, in China these are both under threat. China’s per capita quantity of fresh water is only one-quarter of the global average and its sparse water resources are unevenly distributed across the country.

At the same time, China faces serious energy pressures due to the dominance of coal in energy consumption, causing severe environmental crises and its high external energy dependence in general.

How China’s Soft Budget Constraint Created Zombie Firms

This year began with international media attention drawn to the weakness of China’s economy. This prediction was validated on 9 May 2016 when the People’s Daily ran on its front page an article written by President Xi Jinping that expounded on the need for ‘supply-side structural reform’.