China’s Xi Jinping Appointed President

Beijing, Reuters—China's parliament formally elected heir-in-waiting Xi Jinping president on Thursday, completing the country's second orderly political succession since the Communist Party took power in 1949. The largely rubber-stamp National People's Congress chose Xi in a tightly scripted ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing, putting the final seal of approval on a generational transition of power. Xi was appointed party and military chief—where real power lie...

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Is China Ready for World Leadership?

With the United States adopting a neo-isolationist posture under President Barack Obama, could China fill part of the gap left by America’s declining influence in sensitive regions such as the Middle East? The question has been debated here and elsewhere since the start of Obama’s first term in 2009. This week it was posed with greater urgency as China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) convened in Beijing. The NPC is a peculiar beast. Stripped to its core it is a plenum of th...

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