Foreign Policy Blogs

Tag Archives: Beijing

China Deports New York Times Journalist

China Deports New York Times Journalist

Ever since the restoration of U.S.-China diplomatic ties in 1979, Beijing has allowed American media organizations, newspapers, and magazines to establish bureaus on the mainland.  Although these operations were initially quite small throughout the 1980s and 1990s, China-based newsrooms kept growing during the late 2000s to reflect China’s growing international stature as the “big story.” […]

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Mao Revisited

Mao Revisited

Xi Jinping at the Steamed Bun Shop by Tutou Jueren (“Stubborn Baldy”) The Chinese Communist Party has a long tradition of using its state media as a tool to maintain its legitimacy and control its masses through party propaganda.  While ancient China also used propaganda, Chairman Mao Zedong was the first Chinese leader to successfully […]

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Beijing Regains Some Soft Power

Beijing Regains Some Soft Power

Andrew Peacock/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Following its spectacular success as host of the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing’s successive attempts at increasing its “soft power” have often fallen short. Soft power is a concept developed by Joseph Nye of Harvard University to describe the ability to attract and co-opt rather than coerce, use force or […]

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The Pentagon Flies in the Face of Beijing’s New Air Defense Zone

The Pentagon Flies in the Face of Beijing’s New Air Defense Zone

In a rare slap in the face to Beijing, last week the U.S. flew two of its unarmed B-52 bombers into China’s newly-established East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone.  The air defense zone had been recently created in order to assert Beijing’s claim to disputed territorial waters of the East China Sea and to […]

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Beijing Balks, Tokyo Talks

Beijing Balks, Tokyo Talks

AP Photo: David Guttenfelder With the official death toll from Typhoon Haiyan topping 4,000 on Wednesday, nations from around the world are ramping up their efforts to help the Philippines deal with over 1,600 missing persons, 700,000 damaged houses and the nearly 10 million people affected.  Australia, Britain and the U.S. have so far each […]

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Beijing loses face in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan

Beijing loses face in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan

photo: Associated Press Chinese president Xi Jinping and premier Li Keqiang’s diplomatic offensive in Southeast Asia reaped benefits last month, as Beijing reached agreement with Vietnam to form a working group to jointly explore the waters of the disputed South China Sea.  Beijing seems to have copied Obama’s “pivot to Asia,” in the wake of […]

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The Chinese Abroad – Soft Power Ambassadors?

The Chinese Abroad – Soft Power Ambassadors?

This week marks the celebration of a “Golden Week” of public holidays in China, during which millions of Chinese people take vacations, many of which will be abroad.  Prior to this holiday week, which officially began on October 1, China’s National Tourism Administration publicized a 64-page guidebook on their website, entitled “Guidebook for Civilized Tourism,” […]

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Manila reacts to China’s South Sea Aggression

Manila reacts to China’s South Sea Aggression

photo by Getty Images Beijing’s recent actions to extend its naval presence in the South and East China Sea, coupled with a perceived reluctance to solve territorial claims, is seriously undermining security among its neighbors, especially in the Philippines. Last year, in the waters Manila refers to as the West Philippine Sea, China’s occupied the […]

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Obama and Xi to meet in the desert

Obama and Xi to meet in the desert

This weekend’s meeting in the California desert between a re-elected President Obama and his new Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will likely leave a large imprint on one of the world’s most important relationships in the years to come. Though the six-plus hours of meetings spread over two days will be unscripted, one important topic of […]

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Maine: The next near-Arctic state?

Maine: The next near-Arctic state?

Yesterday, I mentioned in a blog post that Eimskip, the Icelandic shipping company, recently moved its North American hub from Norfolk, Virginia to Portland, Maine. This will be the American port’s first direct connection to Europe in 33 years, according to an excellent, fact-filled article in the Press Herald, a local newspaper. Eimskip’s decision is in line […]

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How China Should React to North Korea

How China Should React to North Korea

Years of patient diplomatic efforts by China with its belligerent neighbor North Korea seemed to be coming to an end on Saturday, following Beijing’s public announcement of an agreement with the U.S. on ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons. The action comes after last Sunday’s early warning shot by China’s President and CCP Secretary General […]

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China hosts talks with Kachin rebels

China hosts talks with Kachin rebels

As foreign tourists flock to an apparently open and reforming Myanmar, ethnic conflict continues in the regions along its borders. One such conflict involves the Kachin, a Christian/Buddhist/animist people who have been fighting for greater autonomy and political rights for decades.  A 17-year ceasefire between the government and the Kachin broke down in June 2011, […]

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China’s Challenges in Central Asia

China’s Challenges in Central Asia

Just when things are hotting up again with its neighbors in the East and South China Seas, Beijing faces new challenges from its western neighbors in Central Asia.  A report released on February 27 entitled “China’s Central Asia Problem” issued by the International Crisis Group (ICG), a Brussels-based non-governmental organization tasked with reducing deadly conflict, […]

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China’s Time to Act

China’s Time to Act

China, the largest energy consumer in the world, which derives more than two-thirds of its energy supply from coal, is choking. Beijing, with a population of around 20 million, increasing energy consumption and more than five million vehicles, is especially is choking. In mid-January, Beijing officials were forced to conduct an emergency response to hazardous […]

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China Tests the Waters (and Airspace) with Japan’s New Leader

China Tests the Waters (and Airspace) with Japan’s New Leader

  While ties between China and its neighbors have long been strained by territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Beijing’s policy has typically been one of self-restraint coupled with patient diplomacy.  But when the Japanese government announced the purchase of the Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu in China, from private citizens late last […]

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