Category: China

China’s President Xi is Just Getting Started

The recent Washington summit took the US-China bilateral relations onto a new level, while President Xi’s UN visit gave a glimpse of China’s new global role.

The current characterization of the U.S.-China bilateral relations are very different trajectories of power. As President Barack Obama is on his way out, President Xi Jinping is just getting started. In turn, the U.S. presidential election cycle, particularly its aggressive rhetoric, may cast shadows over bilateral progress.

China Joins the Reserve Reporting Club…Sort Of

At the end of every quarter, the IMF reports official reserve holdings.  It is the most comprehensive and authoritative source of such information.  This is especially true of the currency composition of the reserves, which some countries publish freely and others regard as a national secret.

Is America at Risk of Not Participating in a Changing China?

Thanks to misguided stories about President Xi’s reforms, America risks losing the opportunity to participate appropriately in China’s massive economic rebalancing and reform drive.

In their Animal Spirits, George A Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller, two Nobel Prize winners, show how human psychology drives the economy and why it matters for global capitalism. In particular, they show how stories move markets and are themselves a real part of how the economy functions.

Could the Ukraine Crisis Benefit China?

The impact of the Ukraine crisis on the geopolitical order in Europe and beyond is clear. Although China is not directly involved, many Western observers believe that it is the biggest winner from the crisis. The argument is that Western sanctions mean Russia will move closer to China while the United States has to shift its attention back to Europe, thus moderating its rebalancing efforts to counter a rising China. Ultimately, the argument goes, this creates a new strategic opportunity for Beijing.

Overcoming Obstacles to Reform and ‘Clean Up’ China’s SOEs

China’s next Five-Year Plan is due for formal approval by the National People’s Congress in March 2016.  One of the areas of focus is the role of China’s State-Owned Enterprises, generally viewed with suspicion by the West and seen within China as bloated and in need of a cleanup.

Xi’s Prospects of Corraling Corruption

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign has highlighted the seriousness of China’s official malfeasance. The outcome will shape a new era of China’s politics, economy and foreign policy.

‘Corruption’ covers disparate phenomena. It may mean graft, taking a tip for doing your job, or it may mean corruption in the stricter sense, taking money in return for undermining the national interest — which is much more costly.

China’s Growth Imbalances and a Potential Solution

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has achieved remarkable economic growth, but there are a number of serious imbalances between coastal and inland regions, and between urban and rural areas. The government wants to help bridge this gap by developing inclusive finance tools.

Chairman of Everything

It ain’t easy being an autocrat.

Take China’s current President and Party Secretary, Xi Jinping. Since coming to power, Xi has shown himself to be unhindered by former norms of collective decision-making, and collective blame.

Rather than portraying all decisions as made unanimously by senior leaders, each of whom is responsible for a different area of governance; Chinese media portrays Xi as making decisions and heading nearly every major policy reform and advisory group.

Managing China’s Supply-Side Slowdown is a Tall Order

Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman recently said with reference to China’s President Xi Jinping ‘Are you starting to have the feeling that when it comes to economic policy Xi-who-must-be-obeyed has no idea what he’s doing?’