To the Editors: Orville Schell’s whitewashing of Chiang Kai-shek, as though he was merely a well-meaning patriot whose character flaws “were sadly amplified by chaotic circumstances largely beyond his

At the end of December Xi Jinping’s People’s Liberation Army launched Justice Mission 2025, the latest and most comprehensive of eight large-scale military drills it has conducted around Taiwan since 2022. The drill mobilized large numbers of army troops, more than twenty navy and coast guard ships, Rocket Force missiles and artillery, and more...

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Shakespeare has much to teach us about the hubristic fragility of despotic leaders, from the tyrants of the mid-20th century to those of today. But are we learning the lesson?

Given the flood of books on China that has poured forth in recent years, one might think the rest of the world would have figured out that provocative country by now. But much of China’s historical evolution continues to defy Western understanding, and many of its leaders remain tantalizing conundrums—few more so than Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and the president of the People’s Republic of China. Having watched him up close on official trips, once in 2015 with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and once during U.S...

Lake's criticisms, and her work leading to the near-total shutdown of VOA, are misguided and bad for our country — for several reasons.

As the US descends into chaos, China is pitching itself as the steadier player on the global stage. But Europe should be wary of its advances

Now that the old geopolitical order has been canceled, China and Russia are ready to step into the vacuum and create a new one. Unless Europe launches an effort to adopt the alliance structure that the United States has now abandoned, it will find itself in a world made safe for autocracy.

Donald Trump has upended seven decades of US foreign policy in a matter of weeks, leaving global leaders aghast and bewildered. But while his actions may seem unparalleled, there is a precedent for his political blitzkrieg: Mao Zedong, who had an even more impressive penchant for chaos and disruption.

Is it possible for an intelligent, rational counterpart to work alongside an autocrat as ruthless as Mao Zedong without losing his soul? This is the Faustian question that hovers over Chen Jian’s new biography of China’s longtime premier, Zhou Enlai. Nearly 50 years after his death, Zhou still enjoys a reputation in China as a leader who valiantly constrained some of Mao’s worst excesses, managed to shield some colleagues from the most brutal aspects of his purges, and helped prevent the country from completely collapsing during his most tectonic revolutionary campaigns. Even some leaders

To the Editors: Orville Schell’s whitewashing of Chiang Kai-shek, as though he was merely a well-meaning patriot whose character flaws “were sadly amplified by chaotic circumstances largely beyond his

The veteran sinophile tells us about five books that shaped his relationship with China since the 1950s — and why ladders are an invaluable but treacherous conduit to the rafters.

Two of the biggest areas of risk in an increasingly fraught U.S.-Chinese relationship are the security of Taiwan and the security of the semiconductor supply chain. Each is high stakes and difficult in its own right. But taken together, they become even more challenging. Although each is critically important to the United States, their solutions do not always neatly align. The most obvious ways to reduce the risk in one area can easily increase risk in the other, and vice versa. Finding a way to manage this treacherous “silicon triangle” among Beijing, Taiwan, and

Although Beijing and Hollywood inhabit political and cultural universes that have little in common, they are similar in one important respect: both have expended vast amounts of energy, time, and capital confecting imaginary universes. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long proselytized for sundry versions of its Maoist/Marxist/Leninist revolution...

Although Xi Jinping finally ended China's disastrous zero-COVID policy late last year, he has continued to double down on his Leninist project of deepening autocracy at home and aggression abroad. More Sino-Western "decoupling" and the emergence of Cold War-style blocs is all but assured.

It has been a long time since demonstrators filled the streets of Chinese cities crying out, “We want freedom!” and “The Chinese Communist Party should step down!” But the seemingly unthinkable has happened in recent days as an upwelling of protest erupted against Beijing’s draconian “zero COVID” policies and then morphed into a more general expression of opposition against the suffocating controls that the CCP has imposed on Chinese society.

To the Editors: Orville Schell’s whitewashing of Chiang Kai-shek, as though he was merely a well-meaning patriot whose character flaws “were sadly amplified by chaotic circumstances largely beyond his

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there is no longer any doubt that the halcyon days of Western-led globalization are over, not just economically but also politically and culturally. The narrative of victimization that fuels Russian and Chinese nationalism will continue to prevail over the niceties of the post-Cold War era.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has done many things with impressive vigor and stunning results. It has created an historic economic boom after a disastrous Marxist-Leninist revolution; launched an expansive and expensive project to extend China’s global influence around the world via its Belt and Road Initiative; trained and equipped a world-class military; and organized a latter day techno-autocracy that makes George Orwell’s 1984 seem like a grade school primer. And as the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics last Friday reminded viewers, the CCP can put on a good show.

July 23 marks the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, which was founded in Shanghai in 1921. The first party congress was attended by, among others, a 27-year-old Mao Zedong, who had made an arduous journey from his inland Hunan Province. This summer, China will hold an epic celebration to honor the occasion. Although the party will forgo a military parade in Tiananmen Square (lest it appear too militaristic), the jingoistic Global Times explained that “large-scale exhibitions will be held to display the glorious course, great achievements, and valuable experience of the CCP over the past 100 years.” There will be celebratory publications, seminars,

Beijing’s plan for a digital currency presents yet another opportunity for citizens to be monitored

Over the decades, reporting has made it easier for the U.S. and China to forge and deepen their ties, but that is in danger as tensions soar

The coronavirus pandemic has turned a conscious uncoupling into a messy breakup.

If the public health consequences in China of the new coronavirus aren’t yet entirely clear, its ultimate political consequences are even murkier.

Will the Wuhan virus hurt party rule in China?