Teaching Comparative Government

If a government office, like the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs, has no public address, no website, and no external telephone number, does it exist? Does its leader wield political power? In the case of Yang Wiemin, former head of the Central Leading Group, the answer is yes. Another example of guanxi at work? Do Yang's remarks illuminate a political fault line in the Chinese leadership? Former top Chinese officials call for better protection of human rights and justice for all Former top Chinese finance officials have called for better enforcement of the law and protection of human rights in China at a top forum to mark the 40th anniversary of the country’s market reforms. Yang Addressing the elite Chinese Economists 50 Forum on Sunday, Yang Weimin, who stepped down earlier this year from the secretariat of the Communist Party’s top economic policy panel, said Chinese people now demanded better protection of human rights, rather than just pursuit of econo...

The great Chinese firewall is well known. Who's in charge of maintaining it? Why a protege of Xi Jinping. Is guanxi any different from the links between members of political elites elsewhere? Beijing names new internet watchdog as China keeps door closed to global tech giants China has officially named Zhuang Rongwen as the new chief of the agency supervising China’s internet. Zhuang Rongwen The announcement that Zhuang would replace Xu Lin as head of the Cyberspace Administration of China confirms a report by the South China Morning Post last week, which also said that President Xi Jinping was seeking to shake up the country’s propaganda and censorship wings. Xu, a former aide to Xi in Shanghai, is expected to become the party’s new international propaganda chief, sources told the Post last week… Zhuang, in his new role as China’s cyberspace tsar, will be a key figure for global technology giants trying to get a foothold in the market of about 800 million online users… China s...