As Chinese leader Xi Jinping kicks off his third term as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the economy that greets him today is vastly different than the one that saw him ascend to his role a decade ago. The decisions he makes during this new term risk reducing the Chinese economy by as much as five trillion dollars over the next five years, with potentially devastating effects for global growth.
Xi Jinping Brings Back Marxism
In 1978, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping announced that his country would make a break with the past. After decades of political purges, economic autarky, and suffocating social control under Mao Zedong, Deng began stabilizing Chinese politics, removing bans on private enterprise and foreign investment and giving individuals greater freedom in their daily lives. This switch, termed “reform and opening,” led to pragmatic policies that improved Beijing’s relations with the West and lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese people from poverty. Although China remained authoritarian, Deng shared power with other senior party leaders—unlike Mao. And when Deng left office, his successors continued down much the same path.
Elon Musk has some new super fans: Russia, China and the Islamic State.
After the world’s richest man bought Twitter for $44 billion last month, officials and journalists linked to Russia and China — and even some jihadists — urged him to lift restrictions on their use of the platform.
As Armenia and Azerbaijan near a peace treaty, Russia is increasingly distanced from the region.
Armenia and Azerbaijan seem to be inching toward a comprehensive peace deal by the year-end. The hints in the media have been circulating for months, with various representatives from the Armenian leadership signaling a high probability of progress on the peace deal.
On October 23, one person, identified as Jameza Mubin, died in an early morning explosion in a gas cylinder-laden Maruti 800 near the Kottai Eswaran Temple in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore District. There were two LPG cylinders inside the vehicle, of which one exploded. As reported on October 26, this incident took place around 200 metres from a Police patrol.
Eurasia is about to get a whole lot larger as countries line up to join the Chinese and Russian-led BRICS and SCO, to the detriment of the west
Let’s start with what is in fact a tale of Global South trade between two members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). At its heart is the already notorious Shahed-136 drone – or Geranium-2, in its Russian denomination: the AK-47 of postmodern aerial warfare.
Terrorism remains one of the most critical issues for India’s national security, and the global security architecture in general, despite setbacks both on the tactical and diplomatic fronts in recent times. China’s move to block the blacklisting of members of Pakistan-backed terror groups such as Lashkar-e-taiba and Jaish-e-mohammed, even as recently as last week, shows the glaring limitations of the United Nations (UN) to build a broad consensus on such issues, with countries using these gaps to achieve personal goals. Coincidentally, this move by Beijing came on the same day as UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said in India that no reason or pretext could justify an act of terrorism.
The Return of Beijing’s Dubious Economic Growth Targets
For most of the past four decades, economic development has been the Chinese government’s lodestar. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has implicitly justified its rule by pointing to expansive growth. Indeed, since the Chinese leadership first unveiled an annual growth target, in 1985, the target has essentially been met or exceeded each year, except in 1989.
Arhitectura intereselor Chinei în regiune – cauze și efecte. Pătrunderea Chinei în Balcanii de Vest este unul dintre primele 2-3 fenomene care compun matricea geopolitică europenă din ultimii 10-15 ani, ca de altfel și extinderea prezenței economice a Beijingului în vestul continentului nostru.
For decades, the Pakistani establishment has termed the Baloch insurgency a low-intensity conflict confined mostly to Balochistan, the country’s largest province by territory. But that seems to have changed, as a spate of attacks this year clearly demonstrates that the insurgency has entered into a new phase.