A China watcher, or, less frequently, Pekingologist, is a person who researches and/or reports on the politics of the People's Republic of China for western consumption, especially in a Cold War context. "China watching" was coined by analogy to birdwatching, which takes place from a distance. It represents a semantic break from the earlier term China Hands, which referred to knowledgeable businesspeople who made political commentary from inside mainland China: after the Chinese Communist Revolution, China watchers more frequently had backgrounds in academia, rather than business, and operated out of consulates in Hong Kong. [1] [ additional citation(s) needed ]
"China watcher" should not be confused for Sinologist, which can loosely refer to anyone who studies China, but, especially in the United States, more frequently refers to those who study classical language, literature, or civilization. [2] In other languages, where the term Pekingologist does not exist, the usage of these terms are less rigidly delineated. In French for instance, the term sinologue would refer to both a researcher in Sinology and a reporter of Pekingology.
During the Cold War, China watchers centered in Hong Kong and many of them simultaneously worked for Western intelligence agencies, universities, and news organizations. Much of their reporting would be previewed by the British colonial government's secretariat, to prepare for diplomatic consequences.[ citation needed ] Of the various nationalities of China watcher, the Americans were the most prolific, due to the activity of the Consulate General of the United States, Hong Kong and Macau. [3] Mutual distrust between the United States and China and the prohibition of travel between the countries meant that American China watchers did not have access to press briefings or interviews. Therefore, China watchers adopted techniques from Kremlinology, such as the close parsing of official announcements for hidden meanings, movements of officials reported in newspapers, and analysis of photographs of public appearances. [4] China watchers would also interview refugees from mainland China, or reprint analysis from Taiwan or the Soviet Union. [5]
Prominent China watchers in Hong Kong in the first decades after the Chinese Communist Revolution included László Ladány and Pierre Ryckmans. Publications by the Consulate-General, which were frequently cited by China-watchers (some of whom did not speak Chinese) included Survey of the China Mainland Press, Current Background, and Selections from Mainland China Magazines. These publications emphasized problems and contradictions in national policy, violence, and atrocity, ignoring topics like education or culture unless there was an associated controversy. [6] In the years since the reform and opening up, China watchers can live in China and take advantage of normal sources of information. Others remained in Hong Kong, however. The Hong Kong journalist Willy Wo-Lap Lam has been called the "quintessential China watcher, practiced in the art of Pekingology," whose "scope is wide, but the focus of his analysis is the Zhongnanhai and factional manoeuvring among the political elite." [7]
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, China became seen as a major United States antagonist, which has caused more interest in China from strategists, including China watchers, rather than just sinologists. Sinologists have since lost ground in shaping the US policy on China, and have claimed that strategists "don't understand China". [8] According to Washington officials, there is "a desire for a new cold war", and The Economist wrote "expertise about China is not necessary" for China watchers, while doveish China experts lost their advisory role to the White House. [9]
The credibility of China watchers has been subject to criticism, as many China watchers predicted extreme and conflicting scenarios, either a collapse of the PRC's economy, political system or nation, or PRC domination. [10] [11] [12] [13] In particular, China watchers have claimed that the CPC is struggling to hold on to power, however the party proved to be adaptable. [14] [15] During the COVID-19 pandemic, China watchers were prominently featured in media reports claiming lockdowns as authoritarian measures, with support for this policy by the scientific community receiving considerably less attention. [16]
Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is a city and a special administrative region in China. With 7.4 million residents of various nationalities in a 1,104-square-kilometre (426 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated territories in the world.
The Taiwan independence movement is a political movement which advocates the formal declaration of an independent and sovereign Taiwanese state, as opposed to Chinese unification or the status quo in Cross-Strait relations.
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the Chinese Communist government of the People's Republic of China in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. The geopolitical sense of the term includes islands such as Hainan, Chongming, and Zhoushan, even though those islands are offshore of the Chinese mainland. By convention, the territories that fall outside of mainland China include:
Chinese unification, also known as Cross-Strait unification or Chinese reunification, is the potential unification of territories currently controlled, or claimed, by the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China ("Taiwan") under one political entity, possibly the formation of a political union between the two republics. Together with full Taiwan independence, unification is one of the main proposals to address questions on the political status of Taiwan, which is a central focus of Cross-Strait relations.
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, also known as the People's PCC or simply the PCC (政协), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s united front system. Its members advise and put proposals for political and social issues to government bodies. However, the CPPCC is a body without real legislative power. While consultation does take place, it is supervised and directed by the CCP.
The First Taiwan Strait Crisis was a brief armed conflict between the Communist People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Nationalist Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The conflict focused on several groups of islands in the Taiwan Strait that were held by the ROC but were located only a few miles from mainland China.
The 1967 Hong Kong riots were large-scale anti-government riots that occurred in Hong Kong during British colonial rule. Beginning as a minor labour dispute, the demonstrations eventually escalated into protests against the colonial government. The protests were partially inspired by successful anti-colonial demonstrations in Portuguese Macau which had occurred a few months prior.
The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony. Hong Kong was established as a special administrative region of China (SAR) for 50 years, maintaining its own economic and governing systems from those of mainland China during this time, although influence from the central government in Beijing increased after the passing of the Hong Kong national security law in 2020.
Chinese-United Kingdom relations, more commonly known as British–Chinese relations, Anglo-Chinese relations and Sino-British relations, are the interstate relations between China and the United Kingdom.
Taiwanese nationality law details the conditions in which a person is a national of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The Nationality Act is based on the principle of jus sanguinis, children born to at least one Taiwanese parent are automatically nationals at birth. Foreign nationals with permanent residency in Taiwan may naturalize after continuously living in the country for at least five (5) years. Certain foreign immediate family members of Taiwanese nationals may naturalize after continuously living in the country for at least three (3) years.
The 12-3 incident was a series of political demonstrations and riots against Portuguese colonial rule in Macau which occurred on December 3, 1966. The incident, inspired by the Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic of China, occurred as a direct response to a violent police crackdown by colonial authorities against local Chinese protesters demonstrating against corruption and colonialism in Macau.
The Kingdom of Romania and Republic of China (ROC) began relations on July 5, 1939.
Russia–Taiwan relations or Taiwan–Russia relations are the bilateral foreign relations between Taiwan and Russia. Due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, relations became tense after Taiwan imposed sanctions against Russia. Russia placed Taiwan on a list of "unfriendly countries", along with South Korea, Japan, Singapore, the United States, European Union members, NATO members, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Micronesia and Ukraine.
The united front in Taiwan is an aspect of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Government of China's larger united front strategy, applied to Taiwan, to achieve unification. It relies on the presence of pro-Beijing sympathizers in Taiwan combined with a carrot-and-stick approach of threatening war with Taiwan while offering opportunities for business and cultural exchanges. According to officials of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, the CCP has long relied on organized crime as part of its united front tactics in Taiwan.
Hong Kong was a colony of the British Empire and later a dependent territory of the United Kingdom from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the British occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841, during the First Opium War between the British and the Qing dynasty. The Qing had wanted to enforce its prohibition of opium importation within the dynasty that was being exported mostly from British India and was causing widespread addiction among the populace.
Taiwan studies, or Taiwanese studies, is a multi-disciplinary academic division of area studies focused on studying Taiwan and the people on/in/of Taiwan both on its own and in comparison with other world areas. Academia Sinica, Taiwan's national level research institute, officially inaugurated its Institute of Taiwan History in 2004 following a long exploratory period beginning in 1986. Taiwan studies departments and centers have been established in numerous universities around the world and key Taiwan studies organizations have been established in North America (NATSA), Europe, and Japan. The first World Congress of Taiwan Studies (WCTS) was hosted by Taiwan's Academia Sinica on April 26–28, 2012, in Taipei, Taiwan. More recently, China has begun to establish its own controversial version of Taiwan studies in the United States via its Confucius Institutes.
The Yale romanization of Mandarin is a system for transcribing the sounds of Standard Chinese, based on Mandarin Chinese varieties spoken in and around Beijing. It was devised in 1943 by the Yale sinologist George Kennedy for a course teaching Chinese to American soldiers, and was popularized by continued development of that course at Yale. The system approximated Chinese sounds using English spelling conventions, in order to accelerate acquisition of correct pronunciation by English speakers.
Willy Wo-Lap Lam is a Hong Kong columnist, newspaper editor, political commentator, political scientist, public policy analyst, sinologist, and writer. He is a frequent commentator on many major media networks regarding the current state of Chinese politics. He is currently a Jamestown Foundation fellow and an adjunct professor at the Centre for China Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Andreas Martin Fulda is a German political scientist, sinologist, sociologist, and an expert on China–EU relations. He is currently an associate professor of politics at the University of Nottingham and a senior fellow at the University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute and China Policy Institute of this university. Fulda is a foreign affair advisor of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC). He had lived and worked in Mainland China and Taiwan as a staff of the China Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO) for eight years. Fulda frequently comments on current Chinese affairs in the media and he is a fierce critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Fulda argues that German universities do not need to rely on Confucius Institutes to organise events on China. His book The Struggle for Democracy in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong (2020) led to a smear campaign against him. Andreas Fulda sharply criticizes German chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to China.