CHINA US Focus - Perspectives shaping the world's most important bilateral relationship

In the United States and China at the moment, the middle class is under threat — and it’s a major problem to both countries for different reasons.   In China, there is increasing concern about the growing gap between the very rich and the very poor.  The Chinese government has stated its intention to drive [...]

In the United States, the Barack Obama administration is fighting to lift the national debt ceiling. In China, the huge debt owed by local governments has set off shockwaves across the country. In the European Union, member states are desperately trying to find a way out of the debt crisis. In other words, the world [...]

In the popular media and the business world, urbanization is often the most cited fundamental driver of global economic growth, especially for the next few decades. The assumption is that such a rural-urban shift will transform poor farmers into industrial and office workers, raise their incomes and create a mass consumer class. Imagine farmers who [...]

Will China's economy face a hard landing, or will a slowdown be within its control? Whatever the answer, analysts would agree that economic growth is bound to slow down. Yet the central government hasn't written any sound plans to prepare for it. Thirty years of growth at breakneck speed has made China the world's second-largest [...]

In President Obama’s 2011 State of the Union address, he called this “our generation's Sputnik moment,” a reference to the era when the U.S. space program progressed in technological leaps and bounds because we were feverishly trying to stay ahead of the U.S.S.R., or, in Ronald Reagan’s words, the “Evil Empire.” In interpreting Obama’s call [...]

At an executive meeting of the State Council on May 18, China's key policymakers discussed the Three Gorges Follow-up Plan, a wide-reaching group of policies intended to address the adverse effects of the Three Gorges Dam project. The new policies aim to resolve a wide range of post-dam consequences, including geological changes, environmental pollution, social [...]