Portside

A left stronghold? An alternative exploiter? The discussion continues

Teachers in the vanguard worldwide * Where is the Chinese economy going? * Jayati Ghosh on post-pandemic New Deals * News and analysis from four continents

Net Neutrality victory; Assange bust and free speech; Front page smear; Means TV; RIP Johnson Publishing; Must-have app; GPS surveillance of school kids

This fall the Chinese Communist Party holds its Nineteenth Party Congress. The US-China relationship is one of considerable global importance on several levels: political, economic and the situation of socialism and the international working class. Trump in his presidential campaign adopted a very hostile anti-China tone. However, after Trump assumed power, he changed; his actions towards China proved largely a continuation of established policy. Why did this happen?

China held its most important political meetings in ten years with the Communist Party Congress in Nov. and the National People's Congress in March 2013. A new leadership group assumed power: Xi Jinping is the new CPC general secretary and national president, Li Kejiang the premier of the state council. New officials assumed all but two positions in the political bureau's standing committee. A major decision is that China will change its economic development strategy.