Commentaries

12/12/2014 - 16:04
As China further positions itself at the forefront of the international world order, so too does its military. According to the Defense Department’s “Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China,” the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has grown and modernized substantially over the last decade. Similar to the Cold War economy of 1960s America... more
08/15/2014 - 12:02
“Like the fall of Bo Xilai before it, last week’s announcement of a disciplinary investigation into former security chief Zhou Yongkang has been hailed by state media as a demonstration of China’s rule of law. Such a conclusion, even given Beijing’s idiosyncratic interpretation of the phrase, is at least premature,” writes China Digital Times’s Samuel Wade. “Discussing the subject with Jeremy... more
06/25/2014 - 14:13
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, famed American political sociologist and member of four presidential administrations from Kennedy to Ford, once remarked that “If a person goes to a country and finds their newspapers filled with nothing but good news, there are good men in jail.” A quick glance at the front page of China Daily’s USA edition certainly proves this true. Although the news is not entirely... more
02/01/2014 - 15:00
American University Washington College of Law published the online version of the Laogai Research Foundation's commentary on the abolition of China's reeducation-through-labor system, which the journal published in print in December 2013. Titled "A Jail by Any Other Name," the article puts forth the argument that although the abolition of this relic of Maoist repression is a welcome development,... more
11/15/2013 - 14:06
Although economic reforms have been the focus of China’s Central Committee conferences this past week, significant strides were made in social policy as well. In addition to changes of the country’s One Child Policy, China has also promised reform of its re-education through labor system. Despite China’s progressive rhetoric, human rights activists should not retract their condemnation of China’s... more
09/30/2013 - 10:21
“We must firmly establish, throughout society, the authority of the Constitution and the law.” This was not the rallying cry of a Chinese dissident encouraging fellow activists from behind bars, but rather a statement issued last year by current Chinese President Xi Jinping on the need to enhance the rule-of-law in order to effectively tackle corruption. Xi followed this lofty rhetoric with an... more
09/18/2013 - 10:57
Since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, much archival information has been released revealing the extent of famine in Soviet-controlled Ukraine in the early 1930s. The information is stunning. Some four million people are estimated to have perished during this period of starvation, known in Ukraine as the “Holodomor.”[i]
            According to Ukranian speakers, the term... more
09/18/2013 - 10:39
Laogai Research Foundation Executive Director Harry Wu appeared on Radio Free Asia earlier this week to discuss Cisco's role in creating China's Golden Shield technology, the name given to the extensive network of surveillance and censorship used by the Chinese government to track dissidents and suppress dissent. Cisco worked with Communist Party public security officials to design this... more
09/18/2013 - 10:27
In 1949, the newly established Communist China sent troops into their neighboring country, Tibet, under the guise of wishing to aid in development and improve the living standards in the secluded country. Tibet at the time was intentionally isolated from the international community, content in their way of life and only possessing a small army ("International Campaign for Tibet"). China has... more
09/04/2013 - 09:13
In light of international condemnation of North Korea's nuclear ambitions, it might be interesting to revisit some famous quotations from Mao that cannot be found in his little red book. In 1957, at the height of the nuclear race, Mao visited Moscow for a conference celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the October Revolution. Various communist heads of state attended the conference and were... more

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