Month: January 2011

  • Asia in the State of the Union: Diligent competitors, trade partners

    This post is based on the advance speech distributed by the White House and published on CNN.com. Over all, tonight’s state of the union speech appears to be light on foreign affairs. Here is a summary of the mentions of Asia. Overall, my quick read is that Asia is set up as a land of…

  • 'Please Vote for Me' documentary and political culture

    I’m in the midst of watching Please Vote for Me, a documentary based on elections for head student of an elementary school class in Wuhan, China. I am not the first to say it, but this is an excellent film. It does, however, come with a perspective. Below: full video for both YouTube and Youku.…

  • Text of the U.S.–China joint statement

    This idea stolen from Josh Rogin. I’m putting this here so I have it in the future. Source: White House. See also Rogin’s post on China bashing on Capitol Hill. The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release January 19, 2011 U.S. – China Joint Statement 1. At the invitation of President…

  • On the unfortunate presentism of China political science

    From Neil J. Diamant on why we might want to study things before Reform and Opening in order to understand Chinese politics: “Given the short history of the PRC, and that much of what we have learned about its politics is based in the ‘pre-archival era,’ it is far too soon to relegate the foundational…