Mark Leonard
Commonly characterized as a juggernaut monomaniacally focused on breakneck economic growth, China is actually riven by a lively, far-reaching debate over its future, argues this inquisitive study.
Leonard (Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century) divides Chinese intellectuals into a New Right that wants to extend laissez-faire market reforms and an increasingly influential New Left that decries rising inequality, corruption and environmental destruction and wants a strong government to rein in capitalist elites and protect workers.
Meanwhile, political reformers push cautiously for local and Communist Party elections against a consensus that associates democracy with chaotic mob rule or national dismemberment.
China's foreign policy is split between liberal internationalists and truculent neo-comms who contend that China must be ready to use force against its enemies.
The author notes that these ideological divisions resemble those in Western countries, but emphasizes the distinctiveness of Chinese ideas, like the concept of the deliberative dictatorship of a one-party state that stays responsive to popular pressures, or a Walled World where globalization enhances rather than erodes the autonomy of national governments.
Leonard's is a lucid, eye-opening account of China's intellectual scene and its growing importance to the world.
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China’s Sinopec has “golden opportunity” to expand oil assets in Angola
Johannesburg, South Africa, 6 Sept - Chinese state oil company Sinopec currently has a “golden opportunity” finally to expand its assets in Angola, getting closer to the positions held in the country by the large multinationals, said analyst Ana Cristina Alves.
After a long stalemate, the analyst said in the most recent edition of the China Monitor of the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University, this opportunity has emerged via the new tender for oil blocks, which is due to take place at the beginning of next year.
The Chinese company has pre-qualification for the long-awaited tender as an operator and Sonangol Sinopec International as a non-operator. [ more ] |
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