Off the record in Beijing: China’s growth rate is non-negotiable

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com Who is in charge of China’s macro-level financial and economic policy? Most observers will say President Xi Jinping, who is head of the two highest-level decision-making bodies: the Central Leading Group on Finance and Economics (CLGFE) and the newly set up Central Leading Group on Comprehensively Deepening Reforms […]

‘Click farms’: China’s propaganda hubs proliferate Facebook likes

‘Click farms’: China’s propaganda hubs proliferate Facebook likes

Special to WorldTribune.com Inside China, EastAsiaIntel.com While China’s 700 million netizens are blocked from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) English-language propaganda machine is harvesting social media fans around the world. Following top-down orders from president Xi Jinping to “tell China’s story” to the world, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are now rife […]

Xi consolidates power, elevates 6th Generation Zhejiang protégés

Xi consolidates power, elevates 6th Generation Zhejiang protégés

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com Despite reports about challenges to his power, President and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping has quietly — and relentlessly — built up his personal faction centered upon cadres associated with the prosperous coastal province of Zhejiang. Members of the so-called Zhejiang Clique are tipped for large-scale promotions […]

What’s stalling Xi Jinping’s grandiose imperial dream? No money

What’s stalling Xi Jinping’s grandiose imperial dream? No money

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com Remember the “One Belt One Road” (OBOR), a multi-trillion-dollar intercontinental project that underpins President Xi Jinping’s ambition to catapult China to super-power status? The “Silk Road Economic Belt” links China with Central Asia, Turkey and all the way to Eastern Europe through a series of high-speed railways, highways […]

Moscow need not apply: China’s new Central Asia military alliance

Moscow need not apply: China’s new Central Asia military alliance

Special to WorldTribune.com by Geostrategy-Direct Chinese PLA’s chief of staff has officially proposed a Central Asia military alliance that excludes Russia. The proposal was advanced by Gen. Fang Fenghui last month in Kabul, Afghanistan. President Ashraf Ghani spoke positively about the proposal after Gen. Fang promised $70 million in military aid. Beside China and Afghanistan, […]

Signs of a schism: Xi’s ruthless power grab challenged at National People’s Congress

Signs of a schism: Xi’s ruthless power grab challenged at National People’s Congress

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com The apparent leitmotif of this year’s meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the top advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), consists of ways and means to resuscitate the Chinese economy. However, political issues – particularly differences among members of the Politburo Standing Committee […]

The foreign policy ‘vision’ at Obama’s last State of the Union cries for an opthalmologist

The foreign policy ‘vision’ at Obama’s last State of the Union cries for an opthalmologist

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address, the annual speech to a joint session of Congress, has emerged as more of a political pep rally than a clear overview of America’s standing in the world both domestic and foreign. The address was touted as […]

Apocalyptic: Xi warned Party it could go down ‘just like the Titanic’

Apocalyptic: Xi warned Party it could go down ‘just like the Titanic’

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com A series of internal speeches has confirmed President Xi Jinping’s arch-conservative view that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will choose its own survival over “subversive” reforms. A 10,000-word story in the Friday edition of the reformist Chinese newspaper Southern Metropolitan Daily has revealed the psychology behind Xi’s refusal […]

‘Historic handshake?’: Xi sets timetable for ‘liberation’ of Taiwan

‘Historic handshake?’: Xi sets timetable for ‘liberation’ of Taiwan

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com The ostensible motive for the historic handshake last Saturday between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan counterpart Ma Ying-jeou is to anchor cross-Strait relations on the “one China” principle. Yet there are more urgent – and politically significant – considerations as well. Presidential elections are coming up in […]

Xi dismays Red Capitalists: Communism still China’s ultimate ‘goal’

Xi dismays Red Capitalists: Communism still China’s ultimate ‘goal’

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com President Xi Jinping has shocked even pro-establishment academics and businessmen by openly calling on officials to “attain the goal of Communism.” Xi’s exhortation came in the form of an address he made earlier this year to county-level cadres who were attending courses at the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) […]

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