Almost all discussion of Afghanistan after 2014 hinges on the withdrawal of western forces. Yet into that gap a major power is stepping—China. China’s involvement in turn poses major questions, vis-à-vis Pakistan, India and their own point of friction—Kashmir.
The British prime minister's trip to China was presented as a mission to expand trade links with an important partner. But whose interests was he really representing, asks Kerry Brown.
Chinese activists are gradually strengthening the framing of domestic grievances with the vocabulary of international human rights, marking a departure from locality-specific episodes of contention.
There is a level of political dynamism at the national level that seems all but absent from global negotiations. But what is particularly interesting about this growing trend is that it appears to be strongest in the developing world.
China's policy incoherence has disturbing echoes of the prelude to Europe's great war in 1914, says Kerry Brown.
As Xiaoyu Pu says, human rights is no longer a taboo issue in China; justice never was. Discussing justice allows us to talk about the sort of issues that the rights discourse was meant to grapple with, but in a way which steers clear of cultural and value issues. A contribution to the openGlobalR
The trial of the disgraced Chinese politician is hurtling towards its predictable conclusion. But a spectre still haunts the Party, and all those at play in China’s political life. It is the spectre of the Cultural Revolution.
The author acknowledges his supporters, but he answers his critics. (See related articles). It is political leverage, not human rights, that make things happen. The wealthy and influential have it, the poor do not except when organized in sufficiently large numbers. A contribution to the openGloba
What does a rising China mean to the world? While some countries take China as a salient threat, others regard it as their role model for development and governance. Jiangnan Zhu responds to Xiaoyu Pu. A contribution to the openGlobalRights debate on Emerging Powers and Human Rights.
Maritime disputes in East Asia have been hugely detrimental to accessing the energy-rich reserves in the South and East China Seas. China needs to move beyond its wariness over sharing security responsibilities in order to solve the resource problem.
