China Currents Special Edition 2021 Penelope B. Prime & James R. Schi man Editors China Currents A Journal of the China Research Center www.chinacenter.net China Currents: Special Edition 2021 published by China Research Center, Atlanta, GA Penelope B. Prime and James R. Schi man, Editors China Currents 2021 Special Edition Penelope B. Prime and James R. Schiffman, Editors China Research Center, Atlanta, Georgia www.chinacenter.net Sponsored by the School of History and Sociology and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology Cover design: Vanessa F. Garver For electronic browsing and ordering of this, and other China Research Center titles, visit www.chinacenter.net For more information, please contact: China Research Center Atlanta, Georgia [email protected] China Currents: 2021 Special Edition eBook Penelope B. Prime and James R. Schiffman, Editors © 2021 China Research Center – All Rights Reserved No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-0-9826415-9-0 Published in the United States by China Research Center Design and Production: Carbon Press, Inc. Manufactured in the United States of America First Edition Contents Preface .......................................................ix Special Issue: Vol.19, No.2, 2020: COVID-19 Decoupling between the U.S. and China May be as Disruptive as COVID-19 .............................1 Yawei Liu Chinese Economy amid COVID-19 Pandemic: Prospects and Policies ......9 Xuepeng Liu COVID-19 and Changes to the Global Supply Chain: Some Observations from China ................................13 Björn Wahlström Public Health in China: Bull’s Nose Ring or Tail? ......................17 Zhuo (Adam) Chen The Chang-Lan Fellowships: Reflections on the Value of Experiential Learning ..................29 Michael Wenderoth Special Issue: Vol. 18, No.1, 2019: The CCP 19th Party Congress Special Issue: Introduction .......................................37 Stephen Herschler Revitalizing the Chinese Party-State: Institutional Reform in the Xi Era .....41 Baogang Guo A Crushing Tide Rolling to a Sweeping Victory: Xi Jinping’s Battle with Corruption after Six Years of Struggle .........49 Andrew Wedeman Market vs. Government in Managing the Chinese Economy: Domestic and International Challenges Under Xi Jinping ............59 Xuepeng Liu New Trends in China’s Media Control at Home and Public Diplomacy Abroad ....................................71 Hongmei Li China’s Continued War on Air Pollution ............................81 Eri Saikawa vi China Currents: 2021 Special Edition There Is and Must Be Common Ground between the United States and China ...........................87 Yawei Liu Focus on Latin American – China Relations, Vol.19, No.1, 2020 China’s Recent Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean: Current Conditions and Challenges .............99 Enrique Dussel Peters Building Development Partnership: Engagement between China and Latin America ...................109 Haibin Niu China in Latin America: Major Impacts and Avenues for Constructive Engagement: A U.S. Perspective .................117 Margaret Meyers and Rebecca Ray History and Society The Wolf Warriors Films: A Single Spark. A Prairie Fire? ...............127 Jie Zhang Interview with China Scholar Dr. Deborah Davis, Yale University ........133 Penelope Prime Movie Review: Crazy Rich Asians .................................139 Paul Foster On Grades ..................................................143 Li Qi Economy and Business U.S.-China Trade Pact President Trump Just Signed Fails to Resolve Three Fundamental Issues .......................147 Penelope Prime China Retail’s Newest Inflection Point: From E-commerce to Omni-channel ...........................151 Katherine Peavy Earth Observing Satellites and Open Data Sharing in China ............159 Mariel Borowitz How United Hospitals Continues to Lead in China: Reflections from the Founding Executives .......................165 Michael Wenderoth vii Commentary: Making China Great Again ..........................175 C. Donald Johnson Discussion with Economist Barry Naughton, January 24, 2020 ..........181 Li Qi and Penelope Prime Politics and International Relations Exe-Xi-sis on Making China Great Again ...........................191 Stephen Herschler Squeezing the Same Old Stone: Suing the Rural Chinese State and the Shift from Tax Reform to Land Seizures ..................201 John Givens and Andrew MacDonald The Rise of China: A Major Choice for the World ....................211 Fei-Ling Wang Sino-Ethiopian Relations from Meles Zenawi to Abiy Ahmed: The Political Economy of a Strategic Partnership ..................215 Daniel Kibsgaard Review: China and India: Comparisons of Soft Power .................227 John Garver About the Editors .............................................231 viii China Currents: 2021 Special Edition ix Preface Economic reform and development in China and China’s rising role in global affairs are reshaping the global system in the 21st century and fueling an un- precedented social transition within China itself. China Currents is a forum for thoughtful, concise articles analyzing society in contemporary China, published by the China Research Center at ChinaCurrents.com. This printed Special Edi- tion includes selections organized by topics from issues Vol.17, No.1 (2018) through Vol.19, No.1 (2020). The Center would like to gratefully acknowledge financial support from our institutional sponsor, the School of History and Sociology of the Ivan Allen Col- lege of Liberal Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Beginning in 2017, the Center is based at Georgia Tech and is directed by Dr. Hanchao Lu, Professor of History. We would also like to thank East West Manufacturing and Project Success, Inc. for their support as Gold sponsors. Our dedicated editorial team includes Dan Williams, Stephen Herschler, Clifton Pannell, Shu-chin Wu, and Lisa Guth- rie. The views expressed in these articles are those of the authors. Founded in 2001, the China Research Center is dedicated to promoting un- derstanding of greater China based on research and experience and to working col- laboratively on events and projects with the public and private sectors. The Center draws much if its expertise from educational and service institutions around the southeast U.S., including Agnes Scott College, The Carter Center, Dalton State x China Currents: 2021 Special Edition University, Emory University, Georgia College & State University, Georgia Insti- tute of Technology, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, Mercer University, Oglethorpe University and the University of Georgia. The Center is also a founding member of the International Consortium for China Studies based at the National School of Development, Peking University. The associates of the Center believe that favorable U.S.-China relations are crucial for promoting economic development in the U.S. and greater China and peace in the region. One of the foundations of favorable relations is mu- tual understanding based on knowledge and open communication. The associates specialize in the study of a wide variety of aspects of Chinese society, including language, culture, history, politics, economics, business, society, international re- lations, demographics, geography, and the environment. The Center’s goal is to make knowledge and expertise available to a wide variety of constituents within and beyond our academic communities, as well as to enhance our academic work via cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional collaboration. Penelope B. Prime, Ph.D. James R. Schiffman, Ph.D. October 2020 Special Issue: Vol.19, No.2, 2020: COVID-19 Decoupling between the U.S. and China May be as Disruptive as COVID-19 Yawei Liu Vol. 19, No.2 2019 In an interview with Fox Business News on May 14, U.S. President Donald Trump said, “There are many things we could do (to China). We could cut off the whole relationship.” He went on to say, “Now, if you did, what would happen? You’d save $500 billion if you cut off the whole relationship.” When asked about Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump said he has “a very good relationship” but “right now I just don’t want to speak to him.” Since coming to office in 2017, President Trump has done more than all the presidents since Jimmy Carter com- bined to damage U.S.-China relations. Unpredictable as he has been, President Trump has never before publicly entertained the idea of cutting off the whole rela- tionship with China. The president’s supporters often say that Mr. Trump should be taken seriously but not literally. But even if talk of severing the relationship is Trumpian hyperbole, there is no doubt that a growing consensus has emerged – not just in the White House – that a tougher line toward China must be taken. Therefore, it is instructive to examine what might happen if the largest economy in the world cuts itself off from the second largest economy. What would the world confront if China quits collaborating with other leading nations in responding to pandemics like COVID-19, climate change, and nuclear proliferation? The West could afford to isolate China for 30 years from 1949 to 1978 when it was militarily weak, ideologically xenophobic, and economically irrel- evant. As powerful as China is now, cutting it off from the U.S. and pushing it out of the global community would be troubling if not dangerous. The question is what has driven the