About
Transpacifica is primarily written by me, Graham Webster. I'm an analyst, journalist, and consultant on East Asian politics and technology. Here, I write about East Asian politics mostly in China and Japan, the Internet and society, the environment, and contemporary art. Unavoidably, I sometimes veer off topic—even with a topic as large as the Pacific.
By day, I work at the EastWest Institute in New York City, but all opinions are my own and do not represent EWI or any of my other clients or employers.
Twitter: @gwbstr.
Website: gwbstr.com.-
Recent Posts
- Key U.S.–Japan meeting overshadowed by U.S.–China diplomacy
- ‘National interests’ and dealing with U.S.–China distrust
- A great paragraph: Wen Jiabao as prodding CCP rule
- Some notes on This American Life’s retraction episode #Apple #China
- The rise and fall of a migrant food cart in China, from Tricia Wang
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Blogs by Academics
- 冷知识 Cool Knowledge – Hu Yong
- China Rhyming
- Elite Chinese Politics and Political Economy – Victor Shih
- 花崗齋雜記 Jottings from the Granite Studio
- Frog in a Well – The China History Group Blog
- Frog in a Well – The Japan History Group Blog
- Japan Focus
- RConversation
- The China Beat
- YouMeiTi 有媒体 – Tricia Wang
China
- 两元文化奇物 (biculturalfreak.net)
- China and the World – Ella Chou
- China Digital Times
- China Financial Markets – Michael Pettis
- China Law Blog
- China Media Project at HKU
- Dance to the Revolution – Ella Chou
- Danwei.org
- EastSouthWestNorth
- James Fallows
- Letters from China – Evan Osnos, The New Yorker
- See China
- Shanghaiist
- Sinocentric
- The China Game
- The China Reader – Lyle Morris
- The China Tracker – Forbes
- The China Vortex
- The Opposite End of China
- Wangjianshuo’s Blog
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License
This work by Transpacifica is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Author Archives: Graham Webster
‘National interests’ and dealing with U.S.–China distrust
From Kenneth Lieberthal, a political scientist now at the Brookings Institution, writing in a new report with Chinese scholar Wang Jisi, “Addressing U.S.–China Strategic Distrust“: Too little understanding of how the Chinese political system actually functions also leads easily to … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Brookings Institution, China-U.S., international relations, Kenneth Lieberthal, strategic trust, trust, Wang Jisi
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A great paragraph: Wen Jiabao as prodding CCP rule
At China Elections and Governance, Yawei Liu, head of the China program at the Carter Center, has an interesting read on CCP legitimacy and Wen Jiabao’s (self-serving) suggestion that even top leaders are helpless in the face of increasingly entrenched … Continue reading
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Tagged Carter Center, China, China Elections and Governance, legitimacy, Wen Jiabao, Yawei Liu
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Some notes on This American Life’s retraction episode #Apple #China
The U.S. public radio show This American Life yesterday announced it would retract its adaption of Mike Daisey’s storytelling show about Apple’s manufacturing operations in China. I’m taking notes while listening on WNYC to a broadcast of the show Retraction. The … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Apple, China, Foxconn, journalism, Labor, Media, Mike Daisey, NPR, radio, This American Life
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The rise and fall of a migrant food cart in China, from Tricia Wang
A few weeks ago, my friend Tricia Wang published an account of her fieldwork, which for about a week included living in an “inner-city” migrant enclave and working as a family (one member of which she’s known for three years) … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged China, fieldwork, migrant workers, migrants, That's Shanghai, Tricia Wang, Urban, water
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Also meet China’s next no. 2 leader, Li Keqiang
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping continues his trip to the United States ahead of his expected rise to the top leadership position after November’s party congress. Meanwhile, NPR’s Louisa Lim has a great radio story on the man expected to … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged China, Li Keqiang, Liaoning, Louisa Lim, NPR, radio, succession, Wikileaks, Xi Jinping
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Xi Jinping thumbs nose at US anti-China populism
In written answers to questions from the Washington Post editorial board, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who is expected to take power as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party in November, implies that anti-China economic rhetoric is based in ignorance. As … Continue reading
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Tagged China, China-U.S., populism, U.S. Election 2012, Washington Post, Xi Jinping
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Fallows lauds Obama’s China work. How to measure success?
James Fallows has published the capstone to his blog’s meditation on whether U.S. President Barack Obama is a chess master or a pawn—a long-game strategist with high tolerance for disappointment along the way, or a hapless newb whose ability to … Continue reading
Ignorant campaign ad confuses Traditional and Simplified Chinese
Several people have noted the ignorant, ham-fisted, and in my opinion clearly racist campaign ad run during the Super Bowl and onward in Michigan. I have a brief addition to the problems people have already noted—including the idea of an … Continue reading
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