Authoritarianism

Why Putin won’t end the war

While the rest of the world urges an end to the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin remains unyielding in continuing the offensive. Commentator Jin Jian Guo looks into the reasons for Putin’s refusal to back down.

Jin Jian Guo

Has Xi Jinping lost power?

Recent CCP “reforms” or regulatory adjustments do not signal a weakening of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s authority, but rather a strategic move to institutionalise power and ensure smoother governance beyond his tenure. In fact, these moves underscore the high level of prestige that President Xi still commands within the party, says academic Wen-Hsuan Tsai.

Wen-Hsuan Tsai

China's reform and opening up needs a breakthrough

Commentator Wei Da says that the rise and fall of civilisations across history have demonstrated that the management of the government's power, the protection of individual property rights and the independent judicial system are the indispensable trinity of modern civilisation. Will China be able to learn these lessons amid its reform and opening up?

Wei Da

'Old' and messy, but US-style democracy and elections still the way to go

With the next US presidential election coming up in 2024, academic Fei-Ling Wang says that democracy is not a natural state of affairs as opposed to authoritarian rule, which is in fact what humans gravitate towards. However, democracy seems to be the least "evil" among all the various governance systems.

Fei-Ling Wang

Will Argentina's President-elect Javier Milei side the 'free world' and avoid China?

Academic Antonio C. Hsiang notes that Argentina's President-elect Javier Milei will be facing several challenges once he assumes office. From carrying out transitional justice to managing economic ties with the Mercosur countries and China, Milei will have his work cut out for him.

Antonio C. Hsiang

Why China's population policies always veer towards the extreme

China's population policies have had a tendency to veer towards the extreme since the era of Mao, says commentator Yu Shiyu. A delayed response to adjusting the one-child policy, which has resulted in a declining population and is expected to have an adverse economic impact, demonstrates the inefficiency of an authoritarian system in self-correcting. Its decision making could also swing between extremes as it is based on subjective top-level thinking.

Yu Shiyu

Chinese politics is undergoing great change

While the ruling system in China, carried over from ancient history, has the features of power combined with moral authority, recent events show that change is happening in Chinese politics. With netizens increasingly challenging the central authority openly, refuting official views and commentaries, will there be greater adjustments to Chinese state-society relations?

Lance Gore

Putin's dilemma: 'Two-faced people' in the authoritarian regime

Wei Da points out that the Wagner rebellion could only have happened because of the "two-faced people" in Putin's inner circle. Such people often emerge from the woodwork at critical moments, taking risks and rebelling. China and other countries may sit up and take notice: whether or not these rebellions work, they are usually fatal blows to authoritarian regimes.

Wei Da

Why is China struggling with identity politics both within and outside the nation?

Currently, deglobalisation and efforts to decouple from China benefit no one. Not only that, identity politics, with ideology at its core, fuels Western nations' foolish ways of achieving a pyrrhic victory. To deal with this, the CCP's utmost priority is to avoid being constrained by others' definitions and to present a new image of socialism with Chinese characteristics. But is China ready to do this?

Lance Gore

Xi's Saudi visit: Middle powers uniting in a hierarchical world

Amid the US-West realignment, developing countries and middle powers have strengthened mutual cooperation via high-level diplomacy. China's deepening relations with Saudi Arabia and the Arab world as seen by Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent high-profile visit to Riyadh is a key sign of this development.

Ma Haiyun

[Comic] Dystopia or 'a beautiful new world'?

Comic artist Bai Yi's artwork gives a glimpse into a dystopian world where individual lives are considered insignificant before the all-powerful and all-important state machine, and where herculean efforts are needed to uphold the dignity of human lives.

Bai Yi

The dwindling space for public opinion in China

Chinese social media platforms such as Weibo, Bilibili and Douyin have announced measures to clean up the use of miswritten words and homonyms that could be related to sensitive terms, sparking backlash from netizens. Zaobao correspondent Wong Siew Fong tells us more.

Wong Siew Fong