The death of former mainland Chinese premier Zhu Rongji on August 12 has renewed discussion of his economic legacy. Zhu, who served as premier from 1998 to 2003 after previously overseeing much of mainland China’s economic policy as vice premier, was one of the principal architects of the market-oriented reforms of the 1990s. He restructured state-owned enterprises, strengthened the central government’s fiscal capacity, promoted housing reform, and used mainland China’s accession to the World Trade Organization as a means of exposing domestic firms to greater competition.
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From Marxist Materialism to a Material Measure of Progress
It would nevertheless be too easy to say that mainland China’s consumer materialism has nothing to do with Marxism simply because Marx himself criticized commodity fetishism. Marxist historical materialism and consumer materialism are conceptually different, but ideas also matter through the political institutions and policy priorities constructed from them.
Continue readingTrump’s Visit to Mainland China: Tactical Easing, Structural Rivalry, and the Real Taiwan Question
Donald Trump’s visit to Mainland China should not be misunderstood as the end of strategic confrontation between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. In the short term, bilateral relations may indeed become more manageable. The two sides reportedly discussed trade, tariffs, agriculture, aviation, technology, Taiwan, and the Iranian regime; Reuters described the trade outcomes as “preliminary,” with tentative understandings rather than a grand settlement.
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