Every week, The Diplomat’s editorial team scours the web to find the best material on all things China. From Beijing’s relations with its neighbors and growing military might, to a rapidly evolving economy and amazing arts and culture, we present a diverse grouping of articles for your reading pleasure.
Here are our top picks for this week. What did we miss? Want to share an important article with other readers? Please submit your links in the comment box below!
The Rise of China’s Reformers – (Foreign Affairs) – “Most observers are gloomy about the prospects for serious economic reform in China. But they ignore a central lesson of recent Chinese history: reform is possible when the right mix of conditions comes together at the right time. And the very circumstances that facilitated the last major burst of economic reform in the 1990s are largely present today.”
China’s Military White Paper Plays Down Dispute With India – (The Times of India) – “China's military has issued a white paper blaming the U.S. for causing tension in the Asia-Pacific region and naming Japan as a troublemaker. But the paper plays down the country's troubled relationship with India over boundary claims. It also reveals details of China's enormous military structure, with some of the information being released for the first time.”
How New and Assertive is China’s New Assertiveness? (International Security) – “There has been a rapidly spreading meme in U.S. pundit and academic circles since 2010 that describes China's recent diplomacy as “newly assertive.” This “new assertiveness” meme suffers from two problems.”
Investigators Look Beyond Birds For Origin of H7N9 Flu Strain – (NY Times) – “As investigators looked at the possibility of human-to-human transmission, there was mounting concern that the new virus may not originate in birds but in other animals and in environmental sources.”
Policies to Encourage Spending – (China Daily) – “Premier Li Keqiang called for better efforts to boost domestic consumption, as the State Council met to map out its policy focus in the coming months.”