October 15,2015 Special Forum

Introduction to the Special Forum

Xi Jinping, indisputably, is the most consequential Chinese leader since the period of Deng Xiaoping. Much has been written, usually from a short-term perspective, about how he is transforming China, The five articles that follow aspire to a wider-ranging understanding of his impact. First, Ezra Vogel, biographer of Deng Xiaoping, offers a comparative perspective on Xi’s leadership qualities. Se..

Editorial Staff
Century of humiliation , China Dream , international rule of law , National identity
October 15,2015 Special Forum

Xi Jinping Compared to Deng Xiaoping: Two Consequential Leaders of China

An Interview with Ezra Vogel, September 28, 2015 Author of the preeminent biography of Deng Xiaoping, Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China, Ezra Vogel agreed to draw comparisons with Xi Jinping. We presented widely shared impressions of Xi and asked Vogel to assess the similarities and differences from Deng. EDITORIAL STAFF: Xi Jinping is often compared to Deng Xiaoping as a vigorou..

Ezra Vogel
Century of humiliation , hegemony , National identity , Regionalism
October 15,2015 Special Forum

Xi Jinping as Historian: Marxist, Chinese, Nationalist, Global

“Only by having a correct recognition of history can it be possible for us to open up a better future. … Forgetting history signifies betrayal.”1 In February 2014, a little over a year after Xi Jinping ascended to power as the secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and then the president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the National People’s Congress (NPC) rati..

Alison Kaufman
China Dream , China's national rejuvenation , Chinese history , Chineseness , National identity , Victory Day
October 15,2015 Special Forum

Xi Jinping’s Impact on China’s Legal Development: Domestic and International

When Xi Jinping came to the United States for a state visit in September 2015, questions about China’s posture toward the rule of law, domestically and internationally, were scattered across Washington’s agenda. The perennial question of human rights had again become an urgent and law-related concern, with the crackdown on rights protection lawyers in mid-2015, and with a pending law on NGOs, ..

Jacques deLisle
Legalist repression , National identity , Rule of law , Top-down government , UNCLOS
October 15,2015 Special Forum

Dreaming Big, Acting Big: Xi’s Impact on China’s Military Development

Xi Jinping emerged from his recent US visit with no meaningful new constraints on the development, deployment, and use of China’s military. Constructively, as part of a larger UN support package, he unveiled a Chinese plan to establish a police squad and 8,000 standby troops for UN Peacekeeping. Despite an ambiguous statement of intent to respect international law and not “militarize” featur..

Andrew Erickson
Asymmetry , China Military Dream , Kill-Chain , National identity , Sino-American military tensions , South China Sea
October 15,2015 Special Forum

Grading Xi Jinping’s America Policy: C-

President Xi Jinping has dealt with the United States for almost three years as relations have declined. His bold and assertive actions in areas sensitive to US interests departed sharply from past restraint and put an aroused America on guard. It is hard to give these results a passing grade. As they did in Washington on September 24-25, the two leaders continue to meet and achieve agreements in ..

Robert Sutter
Chinese assertiveness , National identity , Sino-American interdependence , Sino-American rivalry , US rebalance
September 23,2015 Alternative Scenarios

Positive Scenario II: Optimism amidst Doubts for China and Its International Behavior

On the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the end of WWII, China’s much expected military parade of September 3 was held in Beijing. After all, China, the “forgotten ally” as the British historian Rana Mitter put it, was a key part of the anti-fascist alliance during WWII. It bore a heavy burden in the Asian theater and made a great contribution to the final victory. Severely victimiz..

Ren Xiao*
China-Japan-South Korea summit , National identity , One Belt One Road , Regionalism
September 21,2015 Review Article

Chinese Books on China and Global Governance

He Yafei, Xuanze: Zhongguo yu quanqiu zhili [Choice: China and Global Governance] (Beijing: Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe, 2015) Tao Jian, Lin Hongyu, Zhongguo jueqi yu quanqiu zhili [The Rise of China and Global Governance] (Beijing: Shijie zhishi chubanshe, 2014) Zhou Shuchun, Zhongguo de shijie meng he renlei wenming de zhuanxing [China’s World Dream and Human Civilization in Transition] ..

See-Won Byun
global governance , International relations theory , National identity , The Chinese Dream
September 18,2015 Alternative Scenarios

Scenario of Japan’s Fault

As the fiftieth anniversary of Japan’s defeat in the Asia-Pacific War approached in the summer of 1995, the Japanese Diet debated a resolution, which, it was hoped, would lay the ghosts of the past to rest. The aim was to present a national statement of memory and remorse, broadly supported across the political spectrum and addressing the concerns of the victims of Japan’s imperial expansion, ..

Tessa Morris-Suzuki
Abe Statement , History problem , National identity , Regionalism
September 18,2015 Alternative Scenarios

History Will Continue to Haunt Japan’s Relations with China

In 2015, history has cast a darker shadow on Japan’s relations with China than at any time since normalization of relations in 1972. This was the seventieth anniversary year of war’s end, Sino-Japanese relations were hesitantly emerging from three troubled years, and Xi Jinping and Abe Shinzo were pursuing agendas that showcased their differences over history. Given these factors, should we e..

Editorial Staff