Closer To China Episodes

A forthcoming summit between the DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump A summit between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, calling for a peace treaty and denuclearization Kim suspends DPRK tests of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, changes DPRK’s top national priority to economic development What’s next? What are various scenarios? What role is China playing? What are China’s core interests?

Individual land ownership is required for economic efficiency and a market economy But financial exploitation of rural land has caused problems, especially as land values have skyrocketed, leading to a sharp divide between wealth in urban areas and poverty in rural areas This has to be rectified and pilot programs are in place, however, questions still remain Rural land issues are real and rural revitalization is a national priority

With China’s huge rural population of around 600 million, why is rural land reform a continuing problem? Why, for almost four decades, have rural issues been highlighted in every national congress? How are rural land rights now divided and operated in China? How are pilot reforms granting farmers greater rights to their lands and energizing the country’s rural revitalization strategy? What are its achievements and challenges?

In moves and countermoves, the US and China imposed tariffs and threatened bigger ones The US says it is countering China’s “economic aggression” China says it does not want to fight a trade war, but it is absolutely not afraid of a trade war There is a larger context: a growing “pushback” against China’s rising international engagement What’s really doing on? And what can China do about it?

China has lifted over 700 million people out of poverty But for reasons of poor geography or ill health, about 100 million people remained intractably poor Something radically new was needed We traveled to remote and underdeveloped areas of China to see how the country’s “Targeted Poverty Alleviation” program works at the grassroots, household by household, door by door Here’s how China is winning the battle against poverty

In a momentous restructuring of the Chinese government, 15 bureaucracies were shut down or folded into other bodies The institutional reform was far stronger than what had been expected A new organ at the highest level, the National Supervision Commission, is now responsible for anti-corruption and overseeing proper behavior throughout China’s huge public sector There are many questions and the NSC will need to be ever vigilant

The two sessions are where President Xi Jinping’s “New Era” vision and strategies, specified at the 19th CPC National Congress, become actualized into real-world policies and programs, the election of new leaders, and institutional reforms of the Chinese government Most deal with daunting challenges that China faces – slowing economic growth, financial risk and excess debt, pollution, poverty, corruption, Party governance and increasing foreign resistance to China’s rise

What do Chinese people know about their LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community and how they have they been treated? Homosexuality in China has a complex history, with artistic and literary works But disdain and discrimination have been common How are attitudes changing? What controversies remain?

China is getting old before getting rich Chinese culture has long revered the elderly, but the modern market economy makes caring for the elderly difficult A typical young working couple must support four elderly parents What are the economic and social consequences when 20 percent, and then 30 percent, of the population, are retired? How to care for hundreds of millions of senior citizens? Is China prepared for aging?

President Xi Jinping has made targeted poverty alleviation a cornerstone of his agenda What are the possible challenges? Corruption and falsification of data? Standardization of criteria? Long term, how can China assure that those people brought out of poverty stay out of poverty? Can poverty alleviation be sustainable? Finally, globally, can China’s experience in fighting poverty work in other developing countries?

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 China 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, the obstacles?

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?

What is it about the CPC that makes Xi Jinping committed to enhancing its power in governing China and in engaging global governance, and how could its role develop over the next 5 or 10 years? What gives the CPC standing to organize political parties worldwide? Will other parties accept the leadership of a communist party that eschews multi-party elections? What is the CPC’s vision?

Why did the Communist Party of China (CPC) invite nearly 300 political parties and organizations from over 120 countries to Beijing? What was the CPC’s underlying motivation? Is China now exporting its communist ideology? What was the impact? What happened at the Dialogue is less interesting than why the Dialogue happened, and what it portends for China’s increasing engagement with the world

Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump both lauded the “State Visit Plus” as a major success But was it? How did they handle the mega-issues of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and trade and market imbalances? We analyze what happened: relative to expectations; relative to what is really needed; in context of the long-term relationship; and with respect to the two countries’ Asia-Indo-Pacific strategies

The Communist Party’s theory on how to rejuvenate the Chinese nation and realize the Chinese Dream from now to 2050 centers on a new principal “contradiction” in Chinese society: “between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life” It’s a turning point from high-speed to high-quality economic development, and according to the CPC, from now on it will “drive policy”

The Communist Party of China (CPC) added “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” to its Constitution at the 19th CPC National Congress Members of the newly elected Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 19th CPC Central Committee also met the press The 19th CPC National Congress has played a significant role in Party building and strengthening the rule of law

The report of the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping at the opening session of the 19th CPC National Congress is an in-depth analysis of what China has remarkably achieved, what it will achieve and what it envisages to be a great nation Xi sees China as standing at a new historic starting point and that socialism with Chinese characteristics is entering a new development stage The influence of the Congress and the impact of Xi’s new vision, thinking and strategies will be for decades to come

Why has President Xi Jinping elevated “Strict Discipline of the Party” to the highest level? Why the unprecedented anti-corruption campaign? Answers relate to more basic questions: How has the Party kept up with the times? What is it about that the Party’s past must now be rejuvenated? But can a system with a longtime ruling party itself establish credible checks-and-balances? What challenges does the Party face?

What is it about the Communist Party of China (CPC) that makes Xi Jinping so committed to enhancing its governing power? What are the Party’s positions and policies, organization and governance, visions and challenges? Under Xi’s leadership, how might the Party’s role in governing China develop in the future?

Since taking office in 2012, President Xi Jinping put forth several political frameworks, including the Four Comprehensives, guiding China’s overall governance, and the Five Major Development Concepts, directing China’s economic growth in the new era What do these frameworks mean, and how do they work together? What are the new concepts, thoughts and strategies that underlie, motivate and drive Xi’s political thought?

What does it mean for Xi Jinping to be “core” of the Communist Party of China? He’s already held the top Party, State and military positions, so how does “core” augment his perceived stature or actual power? Why was Xi’s designation as “core” deemed necessary? How did he qualify? As for decision making, how does a “core” affect the Party’s collective leadership? Party insiders explain four factors regarding Xi as “core”

China has over 280 million migrant workers, almost one-third of its urban population But those who enabled China’s economic miracle are enjoying little of its fruits How does the country pay for allowing migrant workers to become city residents, with all social services? What happens to their rural lands? What about their changing demographics?

China cannot become a “moderately prosperous society” by 2020 if any of its citizens live in extreme poverty Although China has already lifted over 750 million people out of poverty, unprecedented in world history, about 40 million people still remain in poverty, and these are the most difficult What are the challenges, obstacles, strategies and policies? How to make China’s poverty alleviation campaign sustainable?

The five BRICS countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, account for almost half the world’s population and nearly a quarter of global economic output They demand a greater say in the world order But why another international bloc? Is BRICS an organization or just an association? What does BRICS do other than to hold meetings? Why does China value BRICS so highly?