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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋

@yaqiu.bsky.social
2.8K followers 251 following 432 posts

Human rights and democracy researcher | Fellow at the Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations at @Upenn.edu | www.wangyaqiu.com | 勇气是最珍贵的品质

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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 19h
Throughout my career, I have said that the day will come when the CCP is held accountable for its numerous crimes. Now I say this: the day will come when Trump is held accountable for recklessly dismantling America's global human rights & democracy promotion work. thehill.com/opinion/nati...
thehill.com
We need accountability for federal employee purges made on false pretenses
I was grilling chicken on a sweltering summer night in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, when I peeked at my phone and saw that a senior official in the administration had just accused me of lying to C…
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I am grateful that some media outlets still want to discuss human rights in US-China relations. The moral collapse of the U.S. government should not cause us to lose sight of what matters and what the public should continue to care about.
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Reposted by Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋
Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations @penn-us-china.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
If you missed our event at JF Books this week, check out the video of our program "Live from Washington: Forecasting the Trump-Xi Summit" featuring Cory Combs, Aaron Glasserman, @bochenhan.bsky.social, and @yaqiu.bsky.social from our fourth cohort of project fellows: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fUK...
youtube.com
Live from Washington: Forecasting the Trump-Xi Summit | Penn Project 季風人文講壇第145期
YouTube video by JF Books 季風書園
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Reposted by Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋
Melissa Chan @melissakchan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
MUST-READ: When we look back, authors @bequelin.bsky.social and @yaqiu.bsky.social argue that the most consequential foreign policy failure of Trump's administration will be on China, not with Iran and the Middle East.
foreignpolicy.com
China, Not Iran, Is Trump’s Real Foreign-Policy Debacle
In 19 months, Washington has lost ground to Beijing on every conceivable front.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
In the past 19 months, Washington has lost ground to Beijing on every major front: economic, military, technology, soft power and alliances. The gap is narrowing not because China got smarter, but the US got so much dumber. My piece with @bequelin.bsky.social 👇 foreignpolicy.com/2026/09/17/c...
foreignpolicy.com
China, Not Iran, Is Trump’s Real Foreign-Policy Debacle
In 19 months, Washington has lost ground to Beijing on every conceivable front.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Let me clarify: The US currently has a credibility problem when criticizing CCP's human rights abuses. But that is not to suggest the US should stop criticizing the CCP. What it should do is to improve its owe human rights record so its criticism of the CCP carries weight.
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Reposted by Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋
Nicholas Bequelin @bequelin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
⚠️China, Not Iran, Is Trump’s Real Foreign-Policy Debacle. In @foreignpolicy.com I argue with my co-author @yaqiu.bsky.social that, under the Trump administration's first 19 months, China has gained ground across almost every dimension of its rivalry with the U.S. foreignpolicy.com/2026/09/17/c...
foreignpolicy.com
China, Not Iran, Is Trump’s Real Foreign-Policy Debacle
In 19 months, Washington has lost ground to Beijing on every conceivable front.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
In my testimony, I argued that the U.S. govt needs to change course: 1) resume its global promotion of human rights and democracy, and 2) end egregious human rights violations at home so it can regain credibility when criticizing the CCP. democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/sites/evo-su...
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Reposted by Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋
Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations @penn-us-china.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Many thanks to JF Books for hosting us in Washington, DC next week for a conversation featuring four of our current Project Fellows (Cory Combs, Aaron Glasserman, @bochenhan.bsky.social, @yaqiu.bsky.social) in anticipation of the Trump-Xi summit. Full details below:
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Today at 3 p.m., join us as we tell members of Congress about the devastating consequences of the Trump administration’s retreat from human rights and democracy promotion—and what the United States can do to reverse course. democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/media/press-...
democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov
MEDIA ADVISORY: Select Committee and Congressional Executive Commission on China Ranking Members to Hold Joint Shadow Hearing on Human Rights in China Ahead of Xi’s Visit to Washington
WASHINGTON – Ranking Member Ro Khanna of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Ranking Member Jim McGovern of the ...
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Of course, the CCP is far more concerned about AI threatening its grip on power in China than about AI wiping out humanity. Humanity has never been much of a concern for the CCP, after all. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/w...
nytimes.com
China’s Top Spy Chief Warns A.I. Is a Threat to Party Rule
Even as Beijing urges the United States not to hype the dangers of A.I., its own spy chief is framing the technology as a threat to the Communist Party’s security.
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Reposted by Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋
Turquoise Roof @turquoiseroof.org · 08/09/2026
@yaqiu.bsky.social explains how information controls after the #Tibet floods can isolate families’ grief, limiting their ability to connect with one another, seek answers & turn shared loss into collective calls for truth & accountability. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/08/w...
nytimes.com
Online Posts Show Families’ Grief for Flood Victims on Tibet’s Side of China-Nepal Border
The authorities have not released an official list of those missing in the Tibet flood, creating an information void that people have tried to fill.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
My piece with Nicholas Bequelin argues that the US can prevail in the AI race against China by leaning into the strengths of an open society -- democratic oversight, the rule of law, robust competition, and open public debate -- NOT by racing to the bottom. www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...
project-syndicate.org
America’s Un-American AI Companies
Yaqiu Wang & Nicholas Bequelin question the wisdom of the industry’s desperate efforts to avoid meaningful democratic oversight.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Reading the obituaries and stories about Steinem right now, I’m struck by how America-centric many of them are. I actually first learned about Steinem on the Chinese internet. She was a global icon who inspired women around the world. Anyone writing about her legacy should remember that.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Xi Jinping must be so happy with Trump's destruction of the American scientific research system -- and his relentless pursuit of making life harder for foreigners living in the United States. scceichinabriefs.substack.com/p/chinas-sci...
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
About 550 people are reported missing in China after the Himalayan floods. Yet Tibet is closed to foreign journalists, and discussion is tightly controlled. You can expect the Chinese government’s disaster response to begin with information control. www.wsj.com/world/india/...
wsj.com
How Devastating Floods Created High in the Himalayas Swept Through Nepal and China
More than 1,450 people, including pilgrims and children, have vanished in a wave of destruction likely sparked by a broken glacier. At least 380 people are dead.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Terrific piece by @goldkorn.bsky.social, capturing the duality of China today: incredibly efficient and convenient, yet strangely lifeless and soulless. www.chinafile.com/reporting-op...
chinafile.com
App Life in China
“It’s really tough doing anything in China right now,” my friend told me. He’s a serial entrepreneur in Shanghai with a locked-in grin. We were waiting for our food in a Taiwanese restaurant in a lovi...
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Artist Gao Zhen was sentenced to three years in prison for satirizing the worst mass murderer in human history. For those Westerners who praise how well-governed China is, consider this your periodic reminder of the true nature of the CCP. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/w...
nytimes.com
Chinese Artist Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Mao Sculptures
Gao Zhen, part of a brotherly duo famous for satirical artworks, was convicted of slandering one of China’s heroes after a secret one-day trial.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The divide within the American intelligentsia right now is less about ideology than courage. Some conservatives are speaking out forcefully against Trump’s overreach, while, ironically, some left-leaning organizations remain silent for fear of losing funding or facing lawsuits.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
There is a deep sense of resignation among people in China about a future in which AI replaces humans. This has a lot to do with the CCP’s relentless crackdown on dissent over the years, which has left people feeling that they cannot change anything. apnews.com/article/chin...
apnews.com
Workers in China worry over being replaced as they adapt to the growing impact of AI on jobs
Artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape China's job market, supported by state policies that some economists believe might undermine the overall strength of its economy.
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Reposted by Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋
Matthew Bradford @matthewbradford.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
“She’s not afraid of anything or anyone,” said Kevin Yam, a Hong Kong lawyer who now lives in exile. “For a lot of us who are outside Hong Kong now and sometimes feel a bit dispirited by things, her example and her inspiration is a big factor in us not losing hope and keeping our spirits up.”
theguardian.com
‘She’s not afraid of anyone’: the prison writings of one of Hong Kong’s last outspoken democracy activists
Chow Hang-tung has been detained since 2021, and written about everything from clothes to Tiananmen Square and the meaning of freedom
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The precarious fate of China’s uber-rich and powerful: Left: Hui Ka Yan attending a session of the CCP’s rubber-stamp legislature in 2012. Right: Hui in a Chinese courtroom today, being sentenced to life in prison.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
China wants to do two things: 1) get the world to build AI models on Chinese propaganda, and 2) flood the global information ecosystem with manipulated data so that even Western models automatically churn out CCP propaganda. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/17/w...
nytimes.com
China Wants Its Data to Power the World’s A.I. (Gift Article)
China is exporting more than A.I. models. It wants its data to influence the world’s chatbots, raising fears that Beijing’s narratives will spread with the technology.
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Reposted by Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋
Foreign Policy @foreignpolicy.com · 08/08/2026
By nearly eliminating civil society, the CCP has helped create an increasingly atomized social world, writes Yaqiu Wang. foreignpolicy.com/2026/08/07/c...
foreignpolicy.com
Why China’s Elites Still Want to Leave
Social callousness pushes even the prosperous to seek new lives overseas.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Zhu Rongji has died. Undoubtedly, his death will bring another wave of public mourning—one that speaks less to how satisfied people were with the Jiang-Zhu era than to how deeply dissatisfied they are with China’s current leadership. www.wsj.com/world/china/...
wsj.com
Zhu Rongji, Engineer of China’s Economic Overhaul, Dies at 97
The former premier steered China toward Western market principles and championed its entry into the World Trade Organization.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
It is incredibly disappointing that the China Select Committee, which began with bipartisan consensus and produced good work, has descended into this. Seriously, what? Giving preference to applicants from China over American students?
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
14-year sentence. Please don’t let China's AI, EVs, and robots blind you to how cruel the CCP can be to people who simply want to do some good for other people against the Party’s wishes.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
In @foreignpolicy.com, I argue that Chinese authoritarianism can deliver order and convenience, but it cannot deliver human warmth or social trust. And for that reason, many Chinese elites still to want to leave. foreignpolicy.com/2026/08/07/c...
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
My new piece👇
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
In our San Francisco Chronicle article, Audrye Wong and I argue that countering CCP influence in the United States is essential to protecting the Chinese diaspora’s freedom and American democracy.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Great piece. There’s a Chinese word for how I feel watching the Trump administration keep shooting itself in the foot in its competition with China: 心塞. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
newyorker.com
The Future, Made in China
Beijing is competing with the U.S. for tech supremacy. Who wins will have huge political implications.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
The extent to which Han Chinese refuse to see the repression of minorities in China sometimes leaves me despairing. But I have also seen a growing number of young Han Chinese discovering these injustices—and responding with intense compassion for the suffering of minorities.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I can’t recommend this episode enough for understanding the CCP machinery of repression. This Han police officer sees himself as a victim of the system, which is true, but is unwilling to recognize that he was also a perpetrator. That’s disappointing, but not surprising.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
When I asked DeepSeek and ChatGPT in English, “Is the right to development a human right?” DeepSeek cited more Chinese official sources in its response. And while ChatGPT noted that “governments cannot invoke development to override other rights,” DeepSeek omitted that crucial point.
worldpoliticsreview.com
The Global Danger of China’s State-Controlled AI Models
The spread of Chinese AI models with built-in censorship mechanisms could quietly shape the global information environment for the worse.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
My new piece in @wpr.bsky.social argues that the spread of Chinese AI models is not just about censorship of obviously sensitive topics such as Tiananmen and Xinjiang, but also about the subtler ways these models may shape how we understand the world. www.worldpoliticsreview.com/china-ai-mod...
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Reposted by Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋
World Politics Review @wpr.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Chinese AI models don’t just censor sensitive topics, they subtly reshape how people understand events like Taiwan and the war in Ukraine, Yaqiu Wang (@yaqiu.bsky.social) writes. As these models spread worldwide, that could quietly reshape the global information environment.
worldpoliticsreview.com
The Global Danger of China’s State-Controlled AI Models
The spread of Chinese AI models with built-in censorship mechanisms could quietly shape the global information environment for the worse.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I don't know why the American left is so confident that a new order would emerge from the collapse of the current international order - which they seem happy to see. It may produce no order at all, only disorder from which we all suffer.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
The CCP wants people in China to trust its disinformation while warning them not to trust random online clickbait. But dear CCP: your own fake news which no one believes has created a vacuum for everyone else’s fake news to thrive.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Kimi K3’s success could carry the CCP’s information control beyond China 👇
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Exaggerations of CCP’s malign behavior only undermine legitimate criticism of the CCP, so such distortions must be called out every time. This time, they come from -- you guessed it -- Orange Head.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Sigh. Trump's lawlessness certainly contributed to this, but I hope people around the world realize that a superpower committing atrocities towards its minorities and menacing its neighbors will not be "friendly" towards your country if it gets its way. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
More people around the world now favour China over the US, Pew study suggests
There is more confidence in Xi Jinping than Donald Trump, the US think tank's survey indicates.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
A summer solicitation from me👇
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Of course, China does impressive things — I feel that acutely every time I’m stuck on another delayed Amtrak train. But the real question is whether you want to live in a country where people can be randomly and brutally abused for the sake of those impressive achievements.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Of course, China seeks hegemony, as rising powers do. The real issue is that it is doing so as a neo-totalitarian state with zero regard for individual rights. www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpre...
lowyinstitute.org
Yes, China does seek hegemony
The Lowy Institute is an independent international policy think tank based in Sydney, Australia.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
America has inspired me, and America has disappointed me. But through it all, I carry an enduring gratitude — for the freedom this country gave me, and for the promise still worth believing in. Happy 250th birthday, America!
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Great to see some media coverage of China that isn't about imminent tech breakthroughs, economic doom or warfare, but about a country where actual people live and engage in a lot of cultural activities. www.npr.org/2026/06/27/n... (kudos to @emilyzfeng.bsky.social)
npr.org
In China, the Dongbei region's cultural renaissance is a nationwide phenomenon
In China, the northeast Dongbei region looms large. Once a gritty, industrial hub, now this rust belt area is the source of music, literature, comedy and culture that have gained wide popularity.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Justice is served. The Guo Wengui saga opened my eyes to how desperately many people want the CCP to fall -- so much so that they were willing to place their trust, and their money, in a complete con. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...
wsj.com
Guo Wengui, China Critic and Tycoon, Sentenced to 30 Years for Fraud
After conviction in a U.S. court, the Trump administration faces calls to pardon or deport the Beijing gadfly who built a devoted following.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Relieved to hear that Dong Guangping is safely in Canada. Everyone who writes some version of “I went to China for two weeks and was amazed” should read Dong’s story to understand just how sickening the CCP’s punishment of its critics can be. apnews.com/article/chin...
apnews.com
Chinese dissident who fled to South Korea by dinghy arrives in Canada
A Chinese political dissident who fled to South Korea last month in a dinghy has arrived in Canada. His friend announced the news on social media on Saturday.
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Reposted by Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋
Turquoise Roof @turquoiseroof.org · 26/06/2026
Yaqiu Wang’s key point: China’s muted AI debate is not consent but control. #Tibet and #Xinjiang show why that matters: AI strengthens #surveillance & #censorship, while “green” western data centres turn coerced frontier regions into infrastructure for China’s AI future:
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
The CCP's relentless suppression of alternative narratives of what constitute "China" only reveals how insecure it is about its own propaganda of a unified and unchanging China. www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/who-...
foreignaffairs.com
Who Is China?
Beijing’s self-inflicted identity crisis.
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