China Archive

This is Part I in a four-part series. Part I examines the follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol. Part II will examine the REDD+ agreement. Part III will examine financial assistance. And Part IV will examine technology transfers and adaptation. CANCÚN, Mexico — Observers and participants at December’s climate change summit in Cancún, Mexico, routinely identified a follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol as one area where progress was essential. The odds of reaching one were not promising. With just one year left on the Kyoto treaty, and Japan firm in its stance that it will not permit an extension […]

This is Part II of a two-part series. Part I examined the reality of freedom and repression in contemporary China. Part II examines the Chinese government and society’s struggle to adapt to the information age. BEIJING — Following weeks of outraged rhetoric and divisive diplomacy from Beijing, last month’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony was blacked out on most — but not all — of China’s international satellite channels. The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos remarked that “The black screen is a darkly comic relic . . . left over from a time when Chinese newspapers hailed bumper harvests and denounced foreign […]

2010 began with disappointment over the Copenhagen climate change summit, only to end on a note of guarded optimism over the success — or lack of failure — in Cancun. Meanwhile, changing climate patterns have opened up new areas to mineral extraction, while exacerbating existing tensions over water. All of these developments take place against the backdrop of increasing global competition for mineral resources and rare earth elements. In this special report, World Politics Review considers climate change and resource competition through articles published in 2010. Below are links to each article in this special report, which subscribers can read […]

This is Part I of a two-part series. Part II will appear tomorrow, and will examine the Chinese government and society’s struggle to adapt to the information age. BEIJING — China’s rise is one of the critical geopolitical variables of our time, with many in the West fearing the advent of a politically repressive, secretive new superpower. However, Chinese society is more open than is commonly believed, and in certain spheres, Chinese citizens may even enjoy greater liberty than their Western counterparts. Moving to a more realistic appreciation of the distribution of freedom and repression in contemporary China can not […]