Laser Challenge of China

Chinese President Xi Jinping, at a meeting with delegates of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) during the last session of the National People's Congress (NPC), demanded the introduction of scientific discoveries and innovative technologies in the army. Xi Jinping noted that new technologies are the key to modernizing the Armed Forces. The Chinese leader discussed with the military how to achieve the goals set in the field of national defense and army development and the implementation of the 13th five-year plan for the development of the armed forces. It is safe to say that Laser Weapons (LW) are on the agenda of China/1/

Decoding Cultural-Code Meaning of Allusion in Translations (Xi Jinping’s Speech at Davos Forum 2021)

The results of the analysis of the rhetoric of Xi Jinping’s public speech are presented. The novelty of the research lies in an attempt of a comparative interpretation of allusive linguistic representations of the text of the speech and its translations into English and Russian. It is emphasized that the interpretation of linguistic representations or their decoding is possible in the contexts of linguacultural accents of allusions of the text and dictionary entries, since by its sign essence language is one of the codes of culture. The authors proceed from the fact that the allusion, being a cognitive category, has a cultural-code meaning (CC-meaning), which is reflected not only in the vocabulary conceptual content, but also in the system of extralinguistic knowledge, associations and images that acquire meaning, enshrined in the culture of linguistic community. The results of an interpretative analysis in order to identify allusive hidden meanings and cultural-code meanings of the units under study are presented in the article. An algorithm is proposed for the interpretative analysis of figurative units in the speech of Xi Jinping by comparing their representations in three languages. The question is raised that the allusions in the speech of the Chinese leader and their semantic correspondences in the translation texts are addressed both to the internal addressees / speakers of the Chinese language and to the external — foreign-language audience.

“A Change in the Balance of Power”

Chapter 7 explores the dawn of China’s grand strategy to build regional order as well as the ends, ways, and means of this strategy. Using Party texts, it explores how the shock of the Global Financial Crisis led China to see the United States as weakening and emboldened it to take a more assertive course. It begins with a thorough review of China’s discourse on “multipolarity” and the “international balance of forces,” concepts China uses as euphemisms for US power and which it ties to its strategic guidelines. It then shows that the Party sought to lay the foundations for order—coercion, inducements, and legitimacy—under the auspices of the revised guidance “actively accomplish something” issued by Chinese leader Hu Jintao in 2009. This strategy, like blunting before it, was implemented across multiple instruments of statecraft—military, political, and economic.

China, Eastern Europe and Russia compared

After the collapse of the Berlin Wall it was conceivable that China would follow the path towards the cessation of communism, as it happened in the successor states of the USSR, Yugoslavia and the East European satellite states of the Soviet Union. But the Communist Party of China (CPC) managed to retain control and avoided the Russian and East European collapse, a full-fledged transition to capitalism and liberal democracy. For a while, China was on its way to market capitalism with the possible outcome to turn eventually into a liberal democracy. This was a rocky road, with backs-and-forth. But the shift to liberal democracy did not happen. The massacre at Tiananmen Square in 1989, approved by Deng Xiaoping, was a more alarming setback than the contemporary Western observers were willing to realize. This paper presents an interpretation of the changes under present Chinese leader, Xi Jinping in a post-communist comparative perspective.

Reading Kindleberger in Beijing: Xi Jinping’s China as a provider of global public goods

In 2017, scholar Joseph Nye postulated that a rising China that failed to deliver global public goods could result in a ‘Kindleberger Trap’, failing, like the then rising United States about a century ago, to supply global public goods at a time of need. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has made expanding China’s role in global public goods provision a hallmark of his foreign policy. This study assesses Xi-led China’s commitment to supplying global public goods using guideposts from historical examples of countries that made the shift from consumers to suppliers of global public goods. It finds that China seeks to enlarge its role in providing global public goods. However, Beijing is supplying those global public goods that it sees as maximising its interests, while simultaneously reshaping existing or constructing new modalities for their delivery. This behaviour, associated with systemic challengers, weakens confidence in China’s role as a stabiliser in future global crises.

Russian tradition of ideas about the unity of the world and the «common destiny» of peoples

The article highlights the idea of «common destiny» of countries and peoples in the works of Russian scientists, politicians and spiritual leaders, which is especially important since the Chinese leader Xi Jinping put forward the concept of «community of common destiny of mankind», on the other hand, in connection with the crisis development of the world community in a pandemic that raised the problem of survival.

Chinese leader-follower flexible interactions at varying leader distances

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the Chinese leader–follower interaction model in school cases considering followers’ effect at varying social distances. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a case study approach. Findings First, Chinese leader–follower interactions in school cases are flexible in practice. Second, within leader–follower flexible interactions, contradictory perceptions and field-of-work consciousness foster different behavior choices between leaders and followers. Third, perceptions concerning the proximity of leaders to followers are positively influenced in relation to hierarchical distinctions and negatively influenced owing to private connections. Finally, the perceived leader distance of leaders from followers further influences the contradictory perceptions and field-of-work consciousness of leaders and followers and positively influences the degree of flexible leader–follower interaction. Research limitations/implications This study examined a single institution; hence, results may have been influenced by school-specific features and conditions. Future research should study more organizations to explore whether their unique characteristics and contexts could affect leader–follower interactions, thus providing more generalized and universally applicable conclusions. Originality/value First, this study proposed a leader–follower flexible interaction model in school cases and the concepts of field-of-work consciousness and contradictory perceptions, exploring the active effects of followers in the leadership process to offer guidance toward better understanding the leadership process. Second, it was found that private connections between leaders and followers, as well as hierarchical differences, influenced the perceptions of both leaders and followers concerning leader distance in a Chinese context, and the influence of leader distance on leader–follower interactions was also analyzed.

“Artless Dealing: The First Year of Trump’s Relations with China”

Entering the presidency, Donald J. Trump made clear his primary agenda with respect to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was altering the trade relationship between the two countries. As the challenge of a nuclear North Korea came to dominate his interactions with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, however, Trump was forced temporarily to put his economic complaints on the backburner. Despite his fiery rhetoric, prolific tweeting, and early missteps with respect to Taiwan, other aspects of the relationship looked to maintain the status quo. By the end of the year, Trump’s incoherent policy neither had improved nor irrevocably damaged Sino-American ties, but it did have the effect of altering the leadership position of the United States in East Asia, ceding a great deal to an increasingly internationally engaged China.