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Myanmar has recently taken rapid steps to liberalize its state-controlled economy in addition to its political reforms.
As China prepares for its leadership transition later this year, Beijing has faced an unusual number of high-profile political incidents which has the potential to help shift the balance of power within China’s leadership to give a larger voice to proponents of reform.
Despite repeated incidents in U.S.-China relations that could have produced significant strains between Beijing and Washington, relations so far have remained productive and durable. This is likely a product of the Obama administration’s top-level initiative since 2010 to draw China’s leaders into personal engagement in managing affairs to avoid or deal with tensions.
The more Washington appears to intervene in highly sensitive Chinese human rights disputes, the less likely it is that China’s incoming leaders will make desired changes.
Although recent comment by China’s premier Wen Jiabao were taken by many as a signal that financial reform is finally on the agenda, this interpretation is mistaken.
Since opening up to the world in 1979, China’s economy has grown by an astonishing 10 percent, on average, in real terms every year. But many observers have pointed out that China’s recent “rise” is more aptly deemed a “return” to the preeminence it enjoyed before the eighteenth century.
U.S.-China distrust may not be rooted in misunderstanding, but rather in fundamental disagreements over political institutions, value systems, and geostrategic interests.
Both the United States and China want to resolve the tension caused by the escape of Chen Guangcheng before high-level U.S. officials are scheduled to arrive in Beijing.
Chinese National Oil Companies, while owned by the government, increasingly base investment decisions on market signals rather than state orders. Their efforts to access oil and gas resources are helping to meet the challenge of high petroleum consumption levels.
China's trade surplus has less to do with the value of its currency than it does with rapid urbanization and the rise of production networks across East Asia.