China

“The whole world is becoming more like Russia.” A conversation on deglobalization in the wake of the war in Ukraine with Boris Kagarlitsky

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is having profound repercussions for the international system and the global economy. In this conversation, Boris Kagarlitsky discusses the implications of the war on the Russian economy, its financial sector, and the Russian elite. Furthermore, he nalyzes the ongoing crisis of globalization, in particular Western sanctions, rising commodity prices, and the current role of China.

Protesting an Australian navy weapons expo in May. Photo: Sydney Anti-AUKUS Coalition

Socialist Alliance (Australia): Reject the war drive on China: For a foreign policy based on justice, human rights and climate action

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) new Strategic Concept document, adopted at the Madrid Summit at the end of June, is the imperialists’ attempt to giv

Did the Chinese Communist Party always consider Taiwan as part of the Chinese nation?

Michael Pröbsting - A highly interesting academic study – published nearly half a century ago – casts a light on the Chinese Communists’ position on Taiwan in the past.

Taiwan Strait crisis: For the right to peace and security in East Asia

Reposted from Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières, August 18, 2022

Imperialisms in our time: Making sense of “Chinese characteristics”

Into the third decade of the 21st century, what does it mean to talk of imperialism(s) and empire? Can every unequal relationship of exchange, power and cultural diffusion be considered imperialistic? How do we sift through the complexities of imperialist power in a rentier state like Pakistan whose ruling bloc has cultivated multiple foreign patrons?

Pelosi, Taiwan and China

Reposted from RS21, August 16, 2022.

A unity of opposites: The Dengist and the Red Guard

According to Mao Zedong, the principal law of materialist dialectics is the unity of opposites. Thus, it is quite fitting to observe that we can find the unity of opposites on display in evaluations of Mao himself as represented by Domenico Losurdo and Alain Badiou. For Losurdo, Mao is praised for his realism, nationalism, and attention to economic modernization. By contrast, Alain Badiou sees Mao as an eternal rebel, a symbol of the communist idea, and a universalist. These positions could not be more opposed.

How China escaped shock therapy in the 1980s: An interview with Isabella M. Weber

When today’s historiography refers to the debate about economic reforms in Eastern European countries during late communism, it often uses the term the “long transition”. It shows that the economic transformation from state socialism into neoliberalism was a process that took off in some of the countries in Eastern Europe in reaction to the oil crisis in 1973.

Strategic ambivalence or disguised conflict? China’s reactions to Russia’s war on Ukraine and to Covid

Why does China’s response so far to the Russian invasion of Ukraine "not add up"? On one hand, China has refused to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has pushed its own state-controlled media to promote only pro-Russian propaganda, and even republished false reports by the Russian state media. China abstained from a UN Security Council resolution in March 2022 that condemned the Russian invasion. Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently announced that China and Russia "will always maintain strategic focus and steadily advance our comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era," especially in the energy trade (Quoted in Torigian 2022).

The BRICS spall, fall and (try to) reconstitute

Early March 2022 provided a surprising reflection of the extent to which dominant Western norms of international finance could retain hegemony, even as the world’s North-South polarisation suddenly worsened. The Shanghai-based New Development Bank (NDB) was set up by five countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) – at a 2014 Brazilian conference of presidents.