{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/9a03fe9e-1ff0-4dcc-b3f6-50bd1f016ea4/a11ae2bd-1e14-49f9-8e08-d126c7bbebc1?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"Where is China Heading?","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/6195701f2eacc3a36070252a/619588ff2ce434b3ba98a213.jpg?height=200","description":"<p>Helen and David talk to Cindy Yu, host of the Chinese Whispers podcast, about the trajectory of Chinese politics. What is Beijing’s political strategy for Hong Kong and Taiwan?&nbsp;Is Xi Jinping really a socialist?&nbsp;Can the CCP escape its history?&nbsp;Plus, what’s the real reason Xi didn’t show up in Glasgow?</p><p><br></p><p>Talking Points:&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Before the pandemic, the central questions about China in the West revolved around Hong Kong. Now we don’t talk about it so much.</p><ul><li>Both the West and China itself seem to think that China has the situation under control.</li><li>The pandemic made protest harder. It also meant that the media on the ground was focusing on something else.</li><li>Beijing called the financial companies’ bluff: they didn’t leave when the political situation got worse.&nbsp;</li></ul><p><br></p><p>China is trying to repair its territorial claims.</p><ul><li>In some ways, the situation in Hong Kong has made conflict with Taiwan more likely. One country, two systems no longer seems plausible.&nbsp;</li><li>The window of reunification may be closing.&nbsp;</li><li>Xi would probably not want to go in for a long, drawn-out war.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>This is a precarious situation: the risks of miscalculation are enormous.&nbsp;</p><ul><li>What would the West need to do to preemptively deter China?&nbsp;</li><li>It’s not clear that this would actually be good for China.&nbsp;</li></ul><p><br></p><p>The CCP apparatus is incredibly opaque.&nbsp;</p><ul><li>That said, it appears that the party is more unified now than it was before.</li><li>Xi is delivering, and if he continues to do so, he will probably not face too much pushback within the party.</li><li>There was a domestic reason for Xi to skip COP: it coincided with the Sixth Plenum.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>How ideological is Xi’s project?&nbsp;</p><ul><li>China is moving away from pragmatism, not necessarily because of Xi Jinping thought.</li><li>Ideology is most evident in economics.</li><li>Xi is now talking about common prosperity after decades of rampant inequality.</li><li>The policies associated with common prosperity probably would not fly in the West.</li><li>Xi thinks that fixing economic problems is one way to head off social problems.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Mentioned in this Episode:</p><ul><li><a href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/chinese-whispers/id1522448504\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Cindy’s podcast, Chinese Whispers</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcast/will-xi-invade-taiwan-\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Cindy’s podcast episode with Oriana Skylar Mastro</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gps.ucsd.edu/faculty-directory/victor-shih.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Victor Shih at UC San Diego</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p>Further Learning:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/16/xi-biden-virtual-summit-us-china-conflict-taiwan-hong-kong\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">More on the Biden-Xi virtual summit</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2019/176-talking-politics-guide-to-the-chinese-communist-party\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">The Talking Politics Guide to… The Chinese Communist Party</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: </strong><a href=\"http://lrb.co.uk/talking\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>lrb.co.uk/talking</strong></a></p>","author_name":"David Runciman and Catherine Carr"}