Taiwan is an economic powerhouse caught between China and the United States, facing an uncertain future: Independence, subjugation or status quo? Soldiers hoist Taiwan’s national flag in Taipei, Taiwan, 1 February 2019 (EPA-EFE/David Chang) Who would have thought that...
By David Schlesinger Is it China’s century? Or is China a sclerotic, debt-laden behemoth on the verge of collapse? Is China an engine for world prosperity, first manufacturing goods for the globe, and then, with new wealth, becoming a great consumption colossus,...
By David Schlesinger Making a huge statement about wanting to project military might, China is beginning sea trials of its first home-built aircraft carrier, the same week it conducted exercises with its first carrier, a rebuilt Soviet ship bought from Ukraine. The...
By David Schlesinger Pity China’s foreign policy leaders. An unpredictable, mercurial, untested, perhaps irrational leader in its neighbor, North Korea. An unpredictable, mercurial, untested, perhaps irrational leader in its major trading partner and sometime global...
(This article was originally published by the Asia Society on ChinaFile.) By David Schlesinger When things hit their extreme, they can only move to the opposite direction — 物极必反 (wù jí bì fǎn) — is an idiom that seems to sum up perfectly punditry about...