Fourth Plenum News Today

The absence of the Third Plenum is consequential and dangerous for China; it both reflects a notable divide within the CCP and causes greater political instability.

When Chinese law professor Xu Zhangrun began publishing articles last year criticizing the government’s turn toward a harsher variety of authoritarianism, it seemed inevitable that he would be swiftly silenced. But then, remarkably, dozens of prominent citizens began speaking up. Some signed a petition, others wrote essays and poems in Xu’s support, and one wrote a song. To

U.S. president Barack Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinping will meet this week, in a state visit by the American president to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the eve of the APEC Summit. Counting side discussions at multilateral conferences, this will be the fourth meeting between the two presidents—a remarkable, and even laudable, track record of top leaders interacting with each other.

The <em>World Socialist Web Site</em> is publishing today the text of a report delivered by David North 25 years ago, on February 1, 1997, motivating a decision to end publication of the SEP’s printed newspaper and replace it with an international website.

As the year came to a close, at least seven prominent Chinese human rights lawyers rang in the New Year from a jail cell. Under President Xi Jinping, 2014 was one of the worst years in recent memory for China’s embattled civil society. Bookending the year were the cases of two prominent legal advocates: in January, Xu Zhiyong was sentenced to four years imprisonment for his

In early August, Beijing held show trials of four legal activists—a disheartening turn for those optimistic about legal reform in China. What are the prospects for the development of the rule of law in China under Communist Party Secretary Xi Jinping? How do law and politics intersect in Chinese life? Has China’s legal system become more resilient, predictable, and/or

For many years, the vast majority of foreign NGOs operated quietly in China in a legal grey area. Many are unregistered and work in China through local partners, while others are registered as commercial enterprises. That all changed with the passage in April 2016 of the Law on the Management of Foreign Non-Governmental Organizations’ Activities in the People’s Republic of

Free Essays from 123 Help Me | young her father allowed their aunt to educate and raise the children until they were old enough to seek a career. Their aunt...

The prevailing mood among China-watchers in 2014 was one of anxiety and skepticism. The year began in the shadow of Chinese assertiveness in the East and South China Seas. Economic concerns quickly took over: by February the property market seemed on the verge of an epic collapse thanks to the previous year’s sharp monetary tightening. At midyear the worry was that an endless

Hong Kong’s Election Overhaul in Context Hong Kongers protest the extradition bill in June 2019. (Studio Incendo, https://flic.kr/p/2gf6Ndr; CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) On March 30, Chinese lawmakers passed legislation that will dramatically overhaul Hong Kong’s electoral system. That legislation—which takes the form of amendments to Hong Kong’s Basic Law—does not stand alone: It appears to be the third in a recent raft of laws that consolidate Beijing’s...