China's 19th Party Congress

The following sections are included:

• Dedication
• About the Editor
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Abbreviations

The following sections are included:

• The Curious Case of Consent in Contemporary Chinese
• Telling the China Story
• 2017 and the Issue of Personnel
• The Policy Narrative
• Bibliography

As the updated text of the Communist Party of China (CCP) constitution from 2017 shows, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, yidai yilu 一带一路), now has the distinction of being elevated from the level of ‘policy initiative’ to that of a ‘mission’. The phrase ‘… and pursue the Belt and Road Initiative’ marks the single foreign policy idea to have been given such status and joins only a handful of other domestic initiatives which appear in this canonical text. Too often however, the rise of the BRI is tied to Xi Jinping’s own ascendancy without placing it in a wider historical and political context, ignoring the intellectual, bureaucratic and economic legacies by which it has been constituted. Despite this, it is important not to underestimate the novelty and the momentum which the BRI is gathering under Xi’s administration and dismiss it merely as a fresh coat of paint over well-established structures and policies (State Council, 2017).

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Evaluating Anticorruption
• The Evolution of Corruption and Anticorruption Policies 1979–2012
• ‘Swords’ and ‘Cages’
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

More than any other international relationship in the next decade, the Sino-American one will shape world affairs. This next period of interactions will be particularly unique because the assurances that have been the bedrock of US–China relations for decades are now being called into question — on both sides. There are three overarching issues to consider when looking at the state of this relationship in the second era of Xi’s administration.

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Rebalancing the Economy to a ‘New Normal’
• Deepening China’s Economic Reforms
• China’s Global Economic Initiatives
• Prospects Under a Strengthened Xi Jinping
• Bibliography

The following sections are included:

• A Very Visible Problem
• Eco-Civilisation and the Re-Orientation of Bureaucracy
• Xi Challenges the ‘Principal Contradiction’
• Progress, or Still ‘Awaiting Solutions’?
• Governing Frogs and Further Ministerial Reforms
• Blue Skies Thinking
• Bibliography

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Land Institution Reform Since the 18th Party Congress
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

Xi Jinping’s report at the 19th Party Congress (the Congress Report) used a new concept ‘Chinese wisdom’ in two places to describe China’s policies on development and global governance. In the first place, having summarised the major achievements of the Party during the past decades, the report declares that socialism with Chinese characteristics has crossed the threshold into a new era, which means that it ’offers a new option for other countries and nations who want to speed up their development while preserving their independence; and it offers Chinese wisdom and a Chinese approach to solving problems facing mankind’ (Congress Report, English version, p. 9). In the second place, under the theme ‘Following a Path of Peaceful Development and Working to Build a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind’, the report promises that ’China will continue to play its part as a major and responsible country, take an active part in reforming and developing the global governance system, and keep contributing Chinese wisdom and strength to global governance’ (Congress Report, English version, p. 54). What do these statements actually mean, and what can the wider world make of them.

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• China’s BRI as a Grand Perspective Geographic Project
• How Do We Link the BRI to Cross-Strait Relations?
• China’s Pulling Strategy towards Taiwan
• China Hawk Strategy: To Corner Taiwan in International Space
• Conclusion

The following section is included:

• Index