On Feb. 11, 2015, the Taiwanese Ministry of Justice indicted 118 people for their involvement in the Sunflower Student Movement, the largest student-led demonstration in Taiwan’s history. In March and April 2014, around 300 protesters charged into the Legislative Yuan,… Continue Reading
In a July chock full of bad news, China’s State Council has some good news for hundreds of millions of Chinese peasants: they are on their way to being treated the same under the law as those lucky enough to… Continue Reading
Though headlines focus on the latest developments in Ukraine, the crisis has created a ripple effect around the world. The escalating conflict has even impacted events at the Baker Institute: An April 14 program featuring Børge Brende, Norway’s minister of foreign affairs, was postponed when he was asked to return to Oslo for meetings on the unfolding Ukraine-related crisis in Europe. Similarly, Georgiy Mamedov, Russia’s ambassador to Canada, cancelled an April 16 Baker Institute event on policy and politics in Russian-American relations. Continue Reading
President Obama has been very savvy in his strategic communications with the Chinese people, treating them rhetorically as intelligent, sophisticated, freedom-loving people who are – unfortunately and temporarily — ruled by a one-party state. A public unfashionably wearing handcuffs. In… Continue Reading
Many human rights lawyers, activists and lawmakers in the United States have called upon President Obama to place human rights issues at the top of the agenda in his meetings with President Xi Jinping of China today in Sunnylands, Calif.… Continue Reading
Public scandals involving Chinese Communist Party Politburo members are rare at any time, and so the recent forced replacement of Bo Xilai — party secretary of Chongqing Municipality and a contender for the top leadership within the new Politburo to be chosen at the 18th Party Congress in October this year — during the normally uneventful, over-scripted and highly formal National People’s Congress meetings in Beijing this week has raised eyebrows throughout China and all around the world. Does such a high profile ouster suggest China is gearing up for a tumultuous leadership transition in the run up to the Party Congress? The recent history of scandals involving top leaders in China suggests not. Continue Reading
In recent years, nature has not been kind to the quarter of humanity that lives just across the Pacific Ocean. Southwest China’s earthquake fatalities in Sichuan in 2008 numbered more than 60,000, in Qinghai in 2010 more than 2,000, and… Continue Reading