China’s domestic politics

As its AI models catch up to US rivals, China wants to set the rules that govern AI use.

Manufacturing is thriving while household spending is suffering. This seems to reflect a deliberate strategy by Beijing to maximize its geopolitical leverage. Growth suffers as a result.

China wants to become more self-sufficient in food. This could make it easier to fight climate change and improve nutrition worldwide, but there are also risks to global food markets.

Senior Research Fellow for China and the World James Kynge provided evidence on 22 April.

Our experts discuss what the US government’s feud with AI firm Anthropic tells us about governance and competition in the AI race.

Beijing is striving for tech self-reliance, aiming to embed intelligent technologies in its economy. But there is a tension in the strategy that could define China’s next decade.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Beijing this week, determined to defrost the relationship that he says has gone from a ‘golden age to an ice age’. He left hailing progress made with Xi, but this was swiftly followed by a warning from Trump that closer engagement is ‘very dangerous’.

A stronger currency may be coming but policymakers in Beijing face two dilemmas that will limit their appetite for exchange rate appreciation.

China’s forthcoming new strategy wants to make innovation the engine of economic growth – but can it pay the bill without leaving ordinary households and the young unemployed behind, asks Yu Jie.

From China’s greatest spying coups to how you spot a ‘grey rhino’ crisis, here are the books the institute’s members borrowed most.

China’s surging high-tech competitiveness, weak appetite for imports and undervalued renminbi have fuelled the huge surplus – but the trend is unsustainable.

Beijing’s prioritization of manufacturing over domestic consumption has sustained its large trade surpluses and threatens to entrench deflation. To cement its position as a global leader, it should change course.

At the Fourth Plenum of the Communist Party of China’s leadership, President Xi Jinping outlined a bold shift in China’s economic development model under its next Five-Year Plan.

China’s new rare earth export controls should galvanize the West to build resilience against China’s growing dominance in global manufacturing and its control over crucial supply chains.

China is sending a clear message: it wants to reshape the world order. And it has the power to do it.

The more the US dithers in its response, the more the strategic balance shifts in China’s favour.

Yu Jie, William Matthews and David Lubin join guest host Ben Bland to discuss the view from China now that Donald Trump is in charge.

With China’s large trade surplus likely to remain intact and the Trump administration aiming to turn the US trade deficit into a surplus, the world is facing a ‘clash of mercantilisms’.

It will be harder for China to balance the needs of its faltering economy with its international relations priorities. But there may be opportunities with Trump the dealmaker.

The recent suspension of Miao Hua is part of Xi Jinping’s efforts to modernize and tighten control of the People’s Liberation Army, but his plan carries significant risks.

Beijing historically swings between stimulus and frugality. But Xi Jinping’s ambition for self-reliance will constrain any new efforts to boost the economy.

Last week’s plenum was light on substance, but even if the CCP had been clearer about its intentions, we might still be none the wiser about the direction of policy.

The Chinese Communist Party’s anticipated meeting represents another step towards top-down economic governance and achieving scientific-self-reliance under President Xi.

Xi Jinping has further consolidated his power in Beijing. What does this mean for China’s economy and its close neighbour Japan?

Weakening the currency should be relatively straightforward. But the adverse reaction of China’s trading partners, past experience, and Xi Jinping’s ambitions for the renminbi could combine to prevent it.

Beijing has bought influence by exporting its high-speed rail technology to Kenya, Indonesia and other countries. But trouble is on the line, writes Yu Jie.

Growth looks set to weaken this year, but authorities remain unable to deliver a large monetary stimulus and unwilling to deliver a large fiscal one.

Noo Saro-Wiwa, author of ‘Black Ghosts’, and BBC journalist Danny Vincent discuss China’s African community and the country’s ‘pragmatic’ attitudes to race.

In ‘Climate Capitalism’, Akshat Rathi’s enthusiasm for environmental private enterprise is infectious, but he’s unclear on who’s footing the bill, writes Ann Pettifor.

Western suspicions and high salaries are encouraging Chinese science talent back home – but Beijing’s isolationism is not helping the cause, writes Yu Jie.

Against a backdrop of rising tensions, this paper examines the internal and external influences that are shaping China’s policy towards the US and the implications for the wider world.

China’s unique environment for the development and implementation of AI provides critical insights into how this technology may impact workers and businesses around the world.

Achieving Xi Jinping’s ambitious agenda of self-reliance in critical technologies will become all the more difficult as the space for creative thinking within China narrows, and opportunities diminish for Chinese scientists to work with peers internationally.

This paper explores the opportunities in China for innovative approaches to climate action that incorporate gender equality and social inclusion.

Understanding the role of national and subnational institutions in determining China’s foreign policy is key to working with the country on major global issues.