Who Will Speak for China’s Dissidents?
Suzanne Nossel – Los Angeles Times
Over the last 10 years, Beijing has made shrewd use of its massive domestic consumer market, global infrastructure investments and cultural budgets to stifle reproach from governments and private institutions alike….
The media are not immune. After Bloomberg published an expose in 2012 of corruption among Beijing’s ruling elite, the Chinese government cut purchases of the firm’s lucrative financial terminals. Some in the newsroom claim that subsequent corruption coverage was curbed. In 2014, Bloomberg’s chairman said in a speech that “we probably … should have rethought” far-reaching exposes that deviated from the company’s core coverage of business news….
Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng attends a ceremony to award the 2013 Lantos Human Rights Prize in Washington, Dec. 6, 2013.
After blind Chinese rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng escaped house arrest in 2012, he said that he sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy because “if you look around the world, even though the U.S. is sometimes weak in the face of dictators, it’s still the best defender of freedom.” Obama should make it clear that the U.S. will live up to the faith invested in it by Chen and scores of Chinese dissidents.
Xi Visit Marks Downturn in U.S.-China Relations
Josh Rogin – Bloomberg View
In the run-up to Xi Jinping’s visit to Seattle, New York and Washington, which will include a state dinner at the White House, the Obama administration has tried to show the U.S.-China relationship as constructive and even friendly. The administration has decided it won’t impose sanctions on Chinese entities in response to the massive hack of U.S. government personnel data last year, at least before Xi’s visit….
President Barack Obama’s strategy of talking tough on China without openly confronting it is becoming increasingly untenable. For example, although Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has repeatedly said that the U.S. is under no obligation to respect Chinese requests to stay 12 miles away from reclaimed reefs in the South China Sea, the White House hasn’t actually told the Pentagon whether it is allowed to travel within that zone.
Watch: National Security Adviser Susan Rice on China’s economy
What You Need To Know About China’s Strongman President
Matt Sheehan – The WorldPost
This week President Barack Obama will host one of the other serious contenders for most powerful person on Earth: President Xi Jinping of China. Just three years after taking the reins of power, Xi has already placed his stamp firmly on his country, his region and China’s relationship with the rest of the world.
The United States and China have been butting heads for years over everything from cyberattacks to territorial disputes in the South China Sea. With Xi almost guaranteed another seven more years in power, Obama and his successor will both need to wrestle with China-U.S. relations in the age of Xi….
Xi is striving to take ownership of that revival narrative by pushing reforms at home and asserting Chinese preeminence in the Asia-Pacific…. While there are few reliable gauges of public opinion, surveys and anecdotal evidence suggest Xi remains immensely popular at home.
But ahead lie enormous challenges for China as a whole and Xi in particular.
Can he transform the Chinese economy without generating massive unemployment? Can he truly root out corruption while also quashing the sprouts of independent civil society? Can he crack down on official perks without provoking a mutiny within the Chinese Communist Party? Can China expand its influence abroad without driving other countries into the arms of the United States?
Chinese President Xi Jinping waves at the beginning of the military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Beijing on Sept. 3, 2015. (Reuters)