China’s ‘biological Chernobyl’ exposes absurdities of autocracy
The death of Li Wenliang has shaken China like an earthquake. He was a young doctor who was reprimanded by Chinese police for alerting colleagues to a new virus that has… Read more »
Category: Communist regimes
China’s ‘biological Chernobyl’ puts CCP legitimacy on the line
In the fall of 2017, Xi took the podium at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People to claim that China’s version of one-party autocracy offered an option for “countries that… Read more »
CCP ‘the central threat of our times’? Democracies must stand up to China
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared the Chinese Communist Party “the central threat of our times” on Thursday, even as he sought to talk up the prospects of a United… Read more »
‘Potentially destabilizing’ coronavirus crisis exposes China’s governance flaws
The Chinese Communist Party’s “prestige and legitimacy are both on the line” in how they handle the coronavirus crisis, observers suggest. “Having realized just how serious this is, and how… Read more »
Cuba’s police state exposed: ‘an important blow to the regime’
A former high-ranking judge in Cuba has joined an anti-government activist in revealing information from secret government documents that show the government is holding thousands of inmates on dubious charges… Read more »
How (not) to advance democracy: Why liberalism works
Is democracy overrated? the conservative British philosopher Roger Scruton once asked. “In my view, the idea that there is a single, one-size-fits-all solution to social and political conflict around the… Read more »
Hong Kong ban spotlights vanishing freedoms under Beijing pressure
The ongoing protests in Hong Kong, and the Chinese government response, influenced Taiwanese voters to deliver a sharp rebuke to Beijing and President Tsai’s defense of Taiwan’s autonomy, according to… Read more »
China’s Civilizational Challenge – a great leap forward to ….. ?
Beijing’s response to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests demonstrates that far from enabling China’s peaceful reunification, the “one country, two systems” model is undermining it, argues Chin-Huat Wong, a professor of… Read more »
Conspiracy theories as counter-narratives: Should democracies adapt to disinformation?
A Russian-linked operation aimed at dividing Western allies spread disinformation on social media for three years, according to a new analysis, Bloomberg reports: Hundreds of accounts on multiple internet platforms… Read more »
China ‘can’t hide’ Uighur plight after Arsenal’s Mesut Özil calls for solidarity
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Tuesday came out in support of Arsenal player Mesut Özil for his criticism of China’s treatment of ethnic Uighur Muslims, saying Beijing can censor… Read more »