Author: David Kelly, UTS

On 21 January 2011, Xu Jilin, an intellectual historian at Shanghai’s East China Normal University, gave a seminar paper entitled ‘Does China Need A Leviathan?’ in Beijing to the Boyuan Foundation.

The Foundation, a pro-reform study group, has been under heavy attack from China’s fervent nationalist left who rile at its unambiguous defence of ‘universal values.’ Read more…

Author: David Kelly, UTS

The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo is a salutary event. For a Chinese writer and public intellectual to be so singled out does his nation no dishonour, despite official statements to the contrary. It shows rather that China, a nation that once led the world in the enunciation of universal values, is capable of returning to its ancient role.

In the fullness of time, Liu’s contribution to the social and political development of China will very likely come to be seen as comparable to that of Mandela’s to Africa or of Havel’s to Eastern Europe. Read more…

Author: David Kelly, UTS

An interesting political dance has been taking place in Shenzhen in recent weeks. On a visit on 20 and 21 August the Premier, Wen Jiabao, appeared at a forum to celebrate 30 years since the far southern city was given the status of a special economic zone.

Touching the usual bases in his address to the forum, Wen also happened to utter a number of home truths. In particular, he identified an urgent need for political reform to cement economic gains and steady the ship, which is buffeted at present by widening inequities and imbalances. He called for strengthening of citizens’ rights like freedom of speech and information—long granted in the PRC Constitution, admittedly, but commonly set aside in the nation’s day-to-day political life. Read more…

Author: David Kelly, UTS

A month ago, a report from a team of sociologists at Tsinghua University claimed that ‘this year’s (Chinese) budget for internal security has reached 514 billion yuan.’ The report went on to note that public safety expenditure increased by 16 per cent last year and will be augmented by a further 8.9 per cent this year.’ This increase has put expenditure on internal security in the same league as national defence spending. In light of this, the report warns that, ‘if the existing way of working is not changed, stability maintenance costs will become an increasingly heavy burden. More ominously, a number of reforms that are important for the improvement of the market economy and building a harmonious society may be delayed.’

Demons seemed to possess China last year. Read more…

Author: David Kelly, UTS

Furious criticism in both the Australian and Chinese press has been at an all-time high this past week. ‘Australia must bear the cost of the deteriorating Sino-Australian relations’, proclaimed the Huanqiu shibao. This level of acrimony surprises. Having scanned a wide range of Beijing media, I recall few headlines like this one—even from the Global Times, a broadsheet whose nationalism sometimes borders on jingoism. The Australian press has acted little better than its Chinese counterpart. Greg Sheridan told the Uighurs they have to fight it out in China—which is possibly the least diplomatic piece of advice ever offered by a Foreign Editor of The Australian in the history of the journal. While this past week set a record for arrogant bluster, by Friday the tensions were eased by placatory statements from both sides, most noticeably the Chinese.

It’s not over, not by a long shot. While blown out of all proportion this skirmish highlights some troublesome issues of information asymmetry and cognitive dissonance in the Australian-Chinese relationship. Information asymmetry is mainly an Australian problem, and I have recently discussed it in an editorial elsewhere. The problem of cognitive dissonance needs some explaining, and a parallel with the United States is useful in doing this.

Read more…