BEIJING (AP) — Late last month, a car struck children near an elementary school in an outlying district of Beijing, according to a Chinese news report. A four-sentence police statement said a 35-year-old male driver hit pedestrians due to “improper operation” of the car. It didn’t mention the school or that the victims included children….
New York — The central question in 1947, as the House Un-American Activities Committee investigated alleged Communist influence in Hollywood, was: “Are you a member of the Communist Party?” Chaired by Republican Rep. John Parnell Thomas of New Jersey, the committee eventually led to a Hollywood blacklist, now the focus of a new exhibit at…
President Xi Jinping has spoken out against unilateral sanctions and trade barriers – reiterating China’s support for globalisation as the international economic environment turns more protectionist – in an article published on the opening day of a high-profile supply chain expo. Wednesday’s piece in Qiushi – the leading theoretical journal of the ruling Communist Party…
China’s think-tanks should pay more attention to the nation’s actual conditions and rely less on Western knowledge, according to a leading Chinese scholar, who said policy advisers could better reflect and project the country’s soft power by incorporating “Chinese characteristics”. Professor Zheng Yongnian, a political economist with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, who…
Jiang Enzhu, the first head of the central government’s liaison office in post-handover Hong Kong, famously likened understanding the city to reading a challenging book – one that demands serious attention and effort. At the time, his words served as a cautionary note to mainland officials. Now, Hong Kong having marked the 28th anniversary of…
New rules on certain Communist Party organs suggest China’s ruling party is aiming to standardise its decision-making process and that President Xi Jinping might be delegating more of his power, according to observers. One analyst said the move could hint at his plan for succession. The 24-member Politburo, the party’s top echelon, on Monday reviewed…
A senior Chinese official with a background in water resources and ethnic affairs has been named as the new Communist Party boss of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. In a one-paragraph announcement on Tuesday, state news agency Xinhua said the party’s Central Committee “recently decided” that Chen Xiaojiang would serve as party secretary of Xinjiang. The…
President Xi Jinping has called for a “clear, transparent and traceable” mechanism to regulate the exercise of power in China’s anti-corruption drive and boost supervision by the people and the media to better rein in disciplinary and legal violations. Xi made the remarks while presiding over a group study session of the 24-seat decision-making Politburo…
China’s Communist Party is preparing to set in regulatory stone the boundaries of various commissions and groups under its top decision-making Central Committee, with new rules clarifying their often nebulous responsibilities. The rules were reviewed by the party’s top echelon, the 24-member Politburo, on Monday in a meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping, state news…
Officials across China are avoiding dining out to “play safe”, as the country’s latest austerity drive spirals into an overbearing campaign of excessive control like many similar ones before it. Several officials interviewed said that the lifestyle change, even if temporary, was largely prompted by the ever-shifting local austerity measures, which could be even more…