Okay, now here is another CDT headline:
"Xi Jinping Outlines More Assertive Foreign Policy Goals."
But the Reuters story CDT quotes from ends with this:
"Xi’s remarks are the latest indication that China is adopting more conciliatory foreign policy tactics and addressing fears its economic growth will inevitably spawn a more muscular diplomatic and military approach."
Frowny face.
Now, right beneath the Reuters story is one from the Sydney Morning Herald:
"The speech by Mr Xi reflects how China is shifting from its long-held dictum 'hide your brightness, bide your time', as set by late leader Deng Xiaoping more than 20 years ago...'It’s clear that the current leader doesn’t want to practise this dictum any more,' said Niu Jun, a professor of international relations at Peking University in Beijing who has researched the Communist Party’s foreign relations for 30 years. 'This is a very significant indicator of a transforming foreign policy.'"
It's clear, see?
So you have two very different stories there. It is so difficult to report on China. I remember reading in some book, I forget which, that in retrospect the most credible accounts of what was happening in China during the Cultural Revolution were from those fleeing over the border into Hong Kong. But those accounts were viewed with skepticism by Western pencils then. Newspaper articles and books were based on what Western reporters who were there, inside the PRC, saw and heard. One of the first books published in the West on the CR was by Stanley Karnow, a tremendous reporter. I read Karnow's book after I had the more recent books and it was awful. Facts were wrong, analysis was wrong, it was bad. It's hard.
"Xi Jinping Outlines More Assertive Foreign Policy Goals."
But the Reuters story CDT quotes from ends with this:
"Xi’s remarks are the latest indication that China is adopting more conciliatory foreign policy tactics and addressing fears its economic growth will inevitably spawn a more muscular diplomatic and military approach."
Frowny face.
Now, right beneath the Reuters story is one from the Sydney Morning Herald:
"The speech by Mr Xi reflects how China is shifting from its long-held dictum 'hide your brightness, bide your time', as set by late leader Deng Xiaoping more than 20 years ago...'It’s clear that the current leader doesn’t want to practise this dictum any more,' said Niu Jun, a professor of international relations at Peking University in Beijing who has researched the Communist Party’s foreign relations for 30 years. 'This is a very significant indicator of a transforming foreign policy.'"
It's clear, see?
So you have two very different stories there. It is so difficult to report on China. I remember reading in some book, I forget which, that in retrospect the most credible accounts of what was happening in China during the Cultural Revolution were from those fleeing over the border into Hong Kong. But those accounts were viewed with skepticism by Western pencils then. Newspaper articles and books were based on what Western reporters who were there, inside the PRC, saw and heard. One of the first books published in the West on the CR was by Stanley Karnow, a tremendous reporter. I read Karnow's book after I had the more recent books and it was awful. Facts were wrong, analysis was wrong, it was bad. It's hard.
