Video episodes of “Closer To China with R.L.Kuhn” – broadcast on CGTN

****************************************************************************************

China-Africa Cooperation for Poverty Alleviation

China’s success in lifting over 700 million people out of poverty appeals to African countries where extreme poverty is the most intractable problem Recently, political leaders, scholars and journalists from 12 African countries held in-depth discussions in Beijing on China’s targeted poverty-alleviation experiences How to adapt China’s experience, especially in reform and opening-up, to the local African conditions? What challenges lie ahead?

Read

From 40 Years to China’s New Era V: Why must China still open up?

Why, after four decades, does China still need to reform and open up further? What has changed? Not changed? Should change? Never change? Reform and opening up have enabled what China calls its “peaceful rise” Can they also facilitate how China contributes to the world? Domestic and international challenges remain in the course of China’s development Much has been accomplished and much more still needs to be done

Read

40 Years and Counting IV: Social Reform in the New Era

Chinese people demand better healthcare, education, social security; a cleaner environment; and reduced disparities between rich and poor We view social reform through the lens of the “Principal Contradiction,” which is now “between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life” Success will be measured by the satisfaction of the people Will “satisfaction” be hard to judge? Chinese people are not shy

Read

40 Years & Counting III: Governance reform in the new era

We explore three sensitive topics in governance reform Market vs government: what is optimum balance? The rule of law: how serious is leadership? Role of the Party: how does the CPC exercise leadership? Looking back, what were the challenges? Looking forward, what are the prospects? Governance reform in China is not what foreigners think One cannot understand governance reform without understanding the CPC

Read

40 years & counting II: Rural and SOE reform in the new era

In this episode on economic reform, we explore rural reform, which is considered to be the cradle of reform, and state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform, an area of continuing controversy Why has rural reform taken so long? What is it about rural reform that, year after year, makes it a perennial topic at political meetings? On SOE reform, what is its history, and what are current issues and questions? Both rural and SOE reform require new thinking for the new era

Read

40 Years and Counting I: Transformation, reform and opening up for the new era

In this 40th year of China’s reform and opening-up, President Xi Jinping calls for comprehensively deepening reform and further opening up Over the past four decades, what lessons have been learned? What challenges lie ahead? In this special series on China’s 40 years of reform and opening-up, we review the past to guide the future

Read

Targeted Poverty Alleviation III: Five-Levels and Evaluation

President Xi Jinping said that for China to become a “moderately prosperous society” in 2020, all extreme poverty must be eliminated RL Kuhn goes to Shanxi Province to witness how five levels of party secretaries – provincial, city, county, township, village – implement targeted poverty alleviation But is the data reliable? Is there a conflict if the officials who do the work also do the assessment? We watch third-party evaluations: specially trained university students auditing poverty alleviation in the villages

Read

Targeted Poverty Alleviation II: Relocating remote villagers

As President Xi Jinping said, for China to truly become a “moderately prosperous society” by 2020, not a single Chinese citizen should be living in extreme poverty Robert Lawrence Kuhn goes to southwestern Guizhou Province to see how “targeted” poverty alleviation works, witnessing whole villages being relocated from mountainous areas to the ones with better living and farming conditions Officials are dispatched to remote, impoverished villages for two years Kuhn accompanies a young CPC official dealing with poor households and newly relocated villagers who seek new skills and jobs and hope for a better life

Read

Targeted Poverty Alleviation I: Identifying and Customizing

President Xi Jinping says poverty alleviation is his most important task China has lifted over 700 million people out of poverty, but still there are about 30 million in extreme poverty RL Kuhn travels throughout China to see how “targeted” poverty alleviation works, which provides help to impoverished households, each of which has its own file and customized plan, checked monthly and digitized for analysis Kuhn meets central officials, local party secretaries, visits the poor, and attends a village democratic meeting

Read

How is Artificial Intelligence changing China?

Artificial intelligence, AI, has been heralded as transformational, disrupting industries and societies, even altering powers among nations China’s ambition is to become a global innovation center by 2030 Why has China made AI a national priority? What are China’s advantages and disadvantages? Shouldn’t China and the US be partners, not adversaries, to assure that AI serves humanity, not the reverse?

Read

2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation

The 2018 Beijing Summit, attended by many African heads of state, promoted the China-Africa comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level for a new era What are the new ideas, new principles, new programs? What’s the meaning of all this newness? President Xi Jinping presented “Five Nos” and eight major initiatives The “Five Nos” are intriguing Why did Xi begin with Five Nos?

Read

China’s Belt and Road Initiative at Five Years II: International Impact

The Belt and Road Initiative is President Xi Jinping’s premier proposal for engaging the world, especially the developing world, stressing much-needed infrastructure projects Now, at the Belt and Road’s five-year mark, it’s a good time to take stock What has been accomplished? What problems have arisen? What about excessive debt? What about increasing international pushback against the Belt and Road Initiative? What challenges lie ahead?

Read

China’s Belt and Road Initiative at Five Years I: Domestic Impact

CGTN is doing a five-year “checkup” on China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which includes over 70 countries, mostly in the developing world, and provides them with much-needed infrastructure – railways, roads, ports, etc – and solidifies China’s global economic integration What has been accomplished? What problems have been encountered? What challenges lie ahead? We focus first on how the Belt and Road benefits China, especially in domestic development Which areas and sectors are engaged? What are the opportunities and obstacles ahead?

Read

US-China trade war: Navarro’s theories

The US and China have begun a trade war, with unintended consequences that benefit no one What underlies the US actions? President Trump certainly has had long-standing concerns about China, but the sudden prominence of Peter Navarro, an anti-China crusader, has injected a zealous stridency What are Navarro’s beliefs? How do his theories apply to trade relations, deficits, tariffs, manufacturing jobs, US national security, and China’s strategies?

Read

What is China’s Brain Project and how does it differ from brain projects in the US and Europe?

What is China’s Brain Project and how does it differ from brain projects in the US, Europe and Japan? Everything we sense, think and feel comes from our brains Many incapacitating diseases, especially age-related, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, are diseases of the brain What’s the state of China’s brain science today, its comparative strengths and weaknesses, its long-term ambitions? To track China’s science, track China’s Brain Project

Read

The PLA at 91: Military mission, reform, restructure

“The world is far from being tranquil and peace needs to be safeguarded,” said Xi Jinping, chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission China faces diverse challenges such as territorial disputes, Taiwan issue, Chinese workers and investments exposed to unstable environments globally Recent PLA reforms are far-reaching on multiple levels for multiple purposes How do they address China’s new defense and security requirements?

Read

Understanding the CPC 4: China’s Diplomacy

The Party’s Central Foreign Affairs Leading Group has become the Central Foreign Affairs Commission The message is clear: The CPC, the Party, is enhancing its coordination and direct control of China’s foreign policy What’s the purpose of the Party’s increasingly hands-on role in China’s diplomacy? Why now? Why broadcast it to the world? Most important for China’s foreign policy, in China’s New Era, are changes in store?

Read

Interpreting the CPC 2: Keeping up with the times

In reforming healthcare and education, what has the CPC done to manifest its role of leadership? Here’s an example of how the CPC “keeps up with the times’” by reforming, innovating, and improving its leadership capacity in all aspects of Chinese society

Read

Interpreting the CPC 1: Poverty alleviation

To General Secretary Xi Jinping of the CPC Central Committee, China cannot be a “moderately prosperous society” by 2020 if any Chinese citizens continue living in extreme poverty The key is that the Party mobilizes its organizations and recruits its members We explore how the Party alleviates poverty, especially through the work of five levels of Party secretaries, who make poverty alleviation their highest priority

Read

Trump-Kim Summit: What really happened and what comes next?

According to Western analysts, Trump made all the concessions – including suspending military exercises – and received from Kim nothing new and nothing concrete We’ll see Denuclearization, ultimately, will depend on the DPRK’s absolute confidence in regime security and a clear roadmap for economic development – both of which China can provide Trump and Kim may set the headlines with their pledges, but only China can make it real

Read

Targeted Poverty Alleviation II: Why ‘Targeted’? What’s ‘Precision’?

Why has President Xi Jinping made poverty alleviation a signature priority of his leadership? China’s national goal is to realize a “moderately prosperous society” by 2020, and Xi asserts that the country cannot be a “moderately prosperous society” if any of its citizens continue to live in extreme poverty So can China eliminate extreme poverty in three years? What are the challenges and the obstacles?

Read

Challenges remain for US China trade

Not having a trade war, at least for now, is a good thing, but let no one underestimate the challenges ahead Although China has committed to purchasing more agricultural and energy products to reduce the trade deficit, neither market access nor intellectual property rights protection measures were specified, worrying the US What is going on? The US and China must each figure out how not to confirm the other’s self-fulfilling prophecy Deep issues remain

Read

Targeted Poverty Alleviation I: Why “Targeted”? “Precision”?

President Xi Jinping stresses that for China to become a “moderately prosperous society” by 2020, the elimination of all extreme poverty is essential Why did he propose the concept of “targeted poverty alleviation”? What does “targeted” mean? What are the “five methods” and “six precisions” in poverty alleviation? How, specifically, do targeted policies and precision measures work in practice, in tens of thousands of impoverished villages?

Read

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

If the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area were a country, its GDP would rank near the top 10 in the world Integration makes sense: Guangdong and Hong Kong have each lost its special role – low-cost producer, and center of trade and finance New strategies are needed How does this massive plan work? What are the risks? Could integration degrade Hong Kong’s and Macao’s separate political system?

Read