China’s insistence on a zero-Covid strategy puzzles many but Han Yong Hong believes that the country may have little choice. She explains China’s unique circumstances and the challenges it faces.
Ideology
Politics
Japanese academic Sahashi Ryo notes that the US-led Summit for Democracy met with a lukewarm response in Asia because it smacked of the US trying to impose its ideas on other nations. Not only that, given the Biden administration’s poor listening skills, their talk of valuing partnerships with allied countries rings hollow.
Politics
Lance Gore notes that US President Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy is one that will fade away just as quickly as it appeared. Fundamentally, the summit and the “good versus evil” dichotomy it espouses is way past its time. With democracies today, not least the US, facing issues of decline and some authoritarian regimes offering practical governance and livelihood solutions, the clash of systems is just not so clear-cut. In fact, if China irons out some of the kinks in its system, it may become a model of benign authoritarianism that others may find worth emulating.
Politics
Chinese academic Huang Yuan says the recent Summit for Democracy is part of the US's strategic efforts to create a democratic alliance against China. The US's united front is swiftly changing China's external environment. Meanwhile, China is also facing challenges in further modernising its governance system. Huang describes China's internal and external battles and asks if the Asian giant will be able to move forward and contribute to humanity in the future, like what the US has done in the past.
Politics
In the wake of the first Summit for Democracy held online on 9-10 December, US academic Zhu Zhiqun questions the objectives and outcomes of the summit. He observes that reactions to the summit have largely been critical. The US needs to get its own house in order before it can have a deciding global influence on the debate. Otherwise, by playing up ideological differences, it is simply marking out another area in which the US and China agree to disagree.
Politics
Ahead of the US Summit for Democracy this week to which it is not invited, China has been aggressively taking the floor to explain its own brand of democracy and ensure that it is not isolated from the conversation. It has released a white paper elaborating on China’s “whole-process people’s democracy” and a report on the state of democracy in the US. Underlying its proactive behaviour is a great anxiety that this is yet another means of containing China. Zaobao correspondents Edwin Ong and Chen Jing examine China's rhetoric on democracy and seek views from the experts.
Politics
Former journalist and MP Goh Choon Kang asserts that out of the 110 invitees for this week’s Summit for Democracy, more than a few countries probably chose to go along out of courtesy. In the main, the international community subscribes to inclusiveness and win-win multilateralism. Efforts to delineate countries based on ideology or values will not go down very well. If anything, the invite and non-invite lists speak of the US’s own geopolitical calculations, not least its search for an added means to contain China.
Politics
Chinese ambassador to Singapore Hong Xiaoyong says with the latest resolution on historical issues passed by the Communist Party of China (CPC), the party is consolidating its historical experience so as to advance under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as it leads the people towards a great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. As China builds a modern socialist country, it is open to exchanges with different civilisations on issues such as democracy. Its own experience is that of “whole-process people’s democracy”, a way of consultative policymaking that it will consolidate in the next phase of its journey.
Politics
The upcoming Summit for Democracy led by the US may be yet another test of US-China relations, with the invite list including “Taiwan”, but leaving out mainland China and Russia. Setting up a democracy versus autocracy narrative is part of geopolitical tussling and the US will likely hold on to its Taiwan card. But will this prompt Beijing to dig in its heels on countermeasures against Taiwan?