Does China care what Britain thinks?
In 2010, David Cameron and George Osborne ushered in what they called ‘a golden era’ with China, the world’s rising superpower. They argued that Britain could be China’s best friend in the West. Thirt...
2 Okt 20231h 1min
What we know about Beijing's spies
Two years ago, Richard Moore, head of MI6, said that China was now the organisation’s ‘single greatest priority’.Parliamentarians and the British public have been starkly reminded of this by last week...
18 Sep 202331min
Is China still a Confucian country?
For thousands of years, Confucianism has run through the fabric of Chinese society, politics and culture. Decades of Communism has taken its toll on China, so can it still be considered a Confucian co...
4 Sep 202328min
What Beidaihe reveals about the changing nature of Communist leadership
178 miles to the east of Beijing, there’s a beach resort called Beidaihe. The water is shallow and the sand is yellow and fine. Luxurious holiday villas dot the coastline. Starting from the 1950s, lea...
21 Aug 202325min
Does China need a new economic playbook?
At the end of last year, some thought that the Chinese economic recovery after three years of zero Covid could happen just as fast as zero Covid itself ended being government policy. I admit, that inc...
7 Aug 202341min
Did some good come from the Qing’s dying century?
In the 1800s, Qing China’s final century, European powers were expanding eastwards. The industrialised West, with its gunboats and muskets, and the soft power of Christianity, pushed around the dynast...
24 Juli 202336min
Beijing and Prigozhin: what does China think of the Wagner uprising?
It’s now a week since the Wagner Group revolted against the Kremlin.Though the dramatic uprising was quelled within 24 hours and the group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is now exiled to Belarus, the ep...
30 Juni 202336min
How divided is Europe on China?
The word ‘West’ is often used as a shorthand to describe liberal democracies in Europe, and perhaps in Asia too, such that we’ll often talk about ‘the West’s attitude to China’, or the ‘West’s relatio...
19 Juni 202338min
