• Will China mediate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process?

    Kim Kyung-Hoon / Pool via EPA

    China's President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 9.

    By Ed Flanagan, Producer, NBC News

    BEIJING – An official visit to Beijing by Israeli and Palestinian leaders last week has prompted speculation that China may finally be ready to claim its place as a world power by trying to negotiate an end to one of world's most caustic conflicts.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Chinese President Xi Jinping within days of each other in Beijing – the two Middle Eastern leaders having arrived in the country within hours of each other.

    "China's hosting of the two emphasized its active involvement in Mideast affairs and highlighted its role as a responsible power," declared an editorial by China's state news agency, Xinhua.

    A more active role in Middle East diplomacy would be a dramatic break from China's long-held policy of non-intervention. With controversial business partners like Sudan, Libya and Iran, China has consistently ducked the political and regional strife of others to focus on natural resource extraction and trade.

    To a long line of American leaders who have invested a great deal of political capital in the quest for peace in the region, a Chinese diplomatic shift could be a welcome development.

    But some experts like Dan Blumenthal, director of Asian Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, wonder how much China is willing to risk entering this particular political game.

    Feng Li / Getty Images

    Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, gestures to invite Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to a welcoming ceremony held outside the Great Hall of the People on May 6 in Beijing.

    "Right now China has the benefit of free-riding on U.S. security [and its] presence, so there is no incentive for them whatsoever to actually pay costs and take risks," Blumenthal said. "China has been fairly extractive in those areas and again for China to become a global power that exercises responsibility, you can't just reap the economic benefits."

    Middle East experts in China have noted that the country has a fresh point of view unsullied by years of involvement in the region. It has a carefully crafted position of supporting the Palestinian cause -- dating back to 1965 when the Palestinian Liberation Organization setup an office in Beijing -- but also being a close friend of Israel, as its third-largest trading partner behind the U.S. and the European Union.

    "The United States' slant toward Israel has long been regarded as a bias stance by Arabic countries, so this bias towards Israel is not helpful for President Obama when it comes to pushing forward current or future initiatives," said He Wenping, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). "But China maintains good relations with both Israel and Palestine, so China's stance is viewed as more neutral than the United States."

    Just how much political capital Beijing is willing to spend hammering out a deal that has eluded others remains a critical question – one that could be fraught with risk to China's relationship with the Muslim world. Would Beijing be willing to put its neutral position and substantial business partnerships in the region in jeopardy?

    To be sure, Xi's meetings with Netanyahu and Abbas were modest at best in ambition. The two Middle Eastern leaders never met face-to-face. And Xi's "four-point plan" effectively parroted calls by the United States for an independent Palestinian state, supplemented with a firm call for the two countries' boundaries to be based on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem serving as the new Palestinian state's capital.

    "I don't think China has some magical power at hand that can make the Israeli-Palestinian process move more smoothly," said He of CASS. "It is significant that Israel and Palestine both recognized China's role because if they don't want China involved, [Netanyahu and Abbas] would have never come to China. This shows they wish for and they recognize China's role in the process."

    Whether their involvement is desired or not, past Chinese diplomatic history suggests that given the options, China in the short-term would likely continue a nominal role rather than put trade relations at risk.

    But a silver lining is the affirmation that while China and the U.S. continue to have major political differences on issues ranging from Iran to America's Asia "pivot," there is room for the two powers to cooperate and engage on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    Related:

  • Chinese officials embrace 'low-key luxury' to dodge corruption crackdown

    Paul J. Richards / AP

    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, is greeted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on April 13. Xi has made battling corruption a top theme of his administration, warning the problem is so severe it could threaten his party's survival.

    By Ben Blanchard and Kim Coghill, Reuters

    BEIJING -- China's top newspaper warned on Wednesday that some government officials were avoiding new President Xi Jinping's graft-busting instructions to be frugal by taking banquets and other lavish displays underground, including hiding liquor in water bottles.

    Since becoming Communist Party boss in November, and president in March, Xi has made battling pervasive corruption a top theme of his administration, warning the problem is so severe it could threaten the party's survival.

    But despite his repeated admonitions for officials to practice frugality and stop wasting public funds, some people still have not gotten the message or are actively finding ways around it, the party's main People's Daily said in a front page commentary.

    "In some places the use of public money for eating and drinking has switched from high-end hotels to private venues and places of business ... which has become known as 'low-key luxury,'" the paper said.

    Cases had come to light of "saunas in farmhouses" and "maotai being put in mineral water bottles", the paper said, in reference to the fiery -- and expensive -- spirit traditionally drunk at banquets.

    "These ways of pulling the wool over people's eyes is typical of not following instructions and not stopping what is banned," the commentary added.

    This phenomenon has reminded the party of the need to strictly enclose power "in the fence of supervision" and "the cage of regulation," it said.

    China's parliament named Xi Jinping as president four months after he took charge of the Communist party pledging reform. John Sparks, Channel Four Europe reports.

    "Such a mechanism must be a long-lasting one, in order to make corruption not only detectable, but also impossible."

    While Xi has also attempted to tackle corruption in the armed forces, for example by seeking to dismantle a system of privilege which has allowed the drivers of military vehicles to do as they please on the roads, he has taken few other concrete steps.

    There has been little apparent progress to get officials to publicly disclose their assets, and the party has given no indication it will allow the establishment of a fully independent judicial body to tackle corruption.

    As well, almost no senior officials have been fired or prosecuted for graft since Xi came to power, with the vast majority of cases which have come to light involving lower level officials with little real power.

    Related stories:

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • China grows weary of North Korea's 'chaos and conflict'

    As Kerry heads to Seoul, South Korea, tensions with North Korea continue to rise as it remains unclear whether or not the latest rhetoric is merely Kim Jong-un showing off his military strength. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

    By Ian Williams, correspondent, NBC News

    News Analysis

    BEIJING -- There was confusion at the China-North Korea border Thursday after Chinese tour operators halted trips into the North.

    Wang Zhao / AFP - Getty Images

    Two men wait Thursday for dispatch at a customs port in the Chinese border city of Dandong. The largest border crossing between North Korea and China has been closed to tourist groups, a Chinese official said Wednesday.

    It wasn't clear whether the instruction to do so came from the Chinese authorities, the North Koreans, or was made by the nervous operators themselves.

    But it mirrored a wider confusion over Chinese policy toward Pyongyang, which depends on Beijing for food and fuel, as well as diplomatic support.

    As North Korea readies what is thought to be a missile test, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei has spent most of the week deflecting questions with the official line that "all sides" should show restraint and begin dialogue, and that peace and stability are a "shared responsibility."

    But in an interview with NBC News he was more forthright about China's growing concern. "We do not want to see chaos and conflict on China's doorstep," he said.

    In fact, there are signs that China is rethinking its policy toward the North. President Xi Jinping last weekend told a forum of political and business leaders that no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain." He didn't mention the North by name, but it was pretty clear who he was referring to.

    Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel described North Korea's actions and "bellicose rhetoric" as "skating very close to a dangerous line."  NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    Earlier, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi had told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Beijing would not allow "troublemaking on China's doorstep," a line repeated in an editorial in Thursday's China Daily.

    China also supported the latest UN sanctions that followed North Korea's third nuclear test.

    In fact, relations between the two have been souring for some time as Pyongyang has consistently ignored calls by Beijing for restraint.

    "To many in Beijing, North Korea is looking less like a strategic asset and more like a strategic burden," said Cheng Xiaohe, associate professor at Renmin University's School of International Studies.

    In the past, even when clearly unhappy, Beijing has treated the North with kid gloves because of fear of the North collapsing, and also as a hedge against U.S. power in Asia.

    'Little Fatty'
    According to leaked 2010 diplomat cables obtained by Wikileaks and posted by newspapers the Guardian and the New York Times, Chinese officials described the regime in the North as behaving like a "spoiled child."

    Slideshow: North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un

    The youngest son of Kim Jong Il succeeded his late father in 2011, becoming the third member of his family to rule the unpredictable and reclusive communist state.

    Launch slideshow

    Chinese social media, which is as close a barometer of public opinion as you can get here, has in recent days been buzzing with criticism -- not of the U.S., but of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, for leading his country to disaster and the world close to war.

    Kim is derided as "Little Fatty" or "Fatty the Third."

    One former top U.S. diplomat agrees there are clear signs that China is losing patience with North Korea. Kurt Campbell, the state department's top official for east asia, said there are signs that a relationship once described by Chairman Mao to be "as close as lips and teeth" is wearing thin.

    He said this was notable in public statements and private conversations with U.S. officials. Speaking last week at a forum at Johns Hopkins University, he said this had the potential for a large impact on northeast Asia.

    What's harder to say is how this growing frustration will be translated into concrete actions to pressure the North.

    Cheng of Renmin University noted that in 2003 Beijing turned off the oil supply in order to force Pyongyang to join six-party talks and could use that weapon again.

    Secret filming captures N. Korean smugglers sneaking into China to get supplies for their impoverished country, as a refugee tells of the horror of life under Kim Jong Un. ITN's Angus Walker reports.

    "If China has political will, China can do something," he said. "China can make a difference."

    Secretary of State John Kerry will be taking this up with China's leaders when he is there this weekend.

    "China and the U.S. share common interests in peace, stability and denuclearisation," said the Foreign Ministry's Hong Lei. "We hope to work with the U.S. side towards that end."

    Significantly, there has so far been no Chinese criticism of the display of U.S. high-tech firepower in the region, which is seen as another tacit condemnation of Pyongyang's antics.

    That said, Kerry will no doubt point out, as other officials have done privately, that if China fails to act the result will be an even bigger U.S. military presence in the region and a possible regional arms race -- precisely what China has said it wants to avoid.

    Related:

    US on missile watch as North Korea celebrates

    Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

    Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

    David Guttenfelder / AP

    As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

    Launch slideshow

  • A diplomatic star is born as Chinese first lady dazzles on first foreign tour

    Thomas Mukoya / Reuters

    Chinese President Xi Jinping and First Lady Peng Liyuan bid farewell as they board their plane to depart from the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on March 25, 2013.

    Ivan Sekretarev / AP

    Glamorous first lady Peng Liyuan has emerged as a Chinese diplomatic star, charming audiences and cutting a distinct profile from her all-but-invisible predecessors on her debut official trip abroad.

    Peng was featured prominently in Chinese media coverage of her husband President Xi Jinping's state visit to Russia, the start of a trip that has also seen stops in Tanzania and South Africa.

    Much of the coverage focused on her personal style, with a report on the mass-market sina.com website noting with satisfaction that the black leather clutch she paired with one outfit was made to order by a Chinese firm in the southwestern city of Chengdu, a flattering contrast with prominent Chinese female politicians scorned publicly for appearing decked head to toe in foreign designer brands.

    -- The Associated Press

    Thomas Mukoya / Reuters

    Peng Liyuan looks at a traditional Tanzanian entertainer during the welcoming ceremony upon her arrival in Dar es Salaam on March 24, 2013.

    EPA

    Peng Liyuan observes a moment of silence during a visit to Gongo la Mboto cemetery, where Chinese workers who died while constructing a railway are buried, on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam on March 25, 2013.

    Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters

    South Africa's President Jacob Zuma shares a joke with Peng Liyuan during an official lunch hosted by Zuma and his wife in Pretoria on March 26, 2013.

    Glamorous and stylish, Peng Liyuan, China's First Lady, has been projecting a newly fashionable face of the Communist regime as she accompanies her husband, the new Chinese President Xi Jinping, on a tour of Russia and Africa – Channel Four's  Lindsey Hilsum reports.

    Related:

    Sign here, Mr. President: China's Xi completes rise to the top

    China's president-in-waiting Xi Jinping returns to Iowa

    More news from China on NBC's Behind the Wall

  • Chinese protest outside newspaper gates in rare censorship demo

    Kyodo News via AP

    A protester holds aloft a banner calling for freedom of speech near the headquarters of Southern Weekly newspaper in Guangzhou, Guangdong province on Monday.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    GUANGZHOU, China — Scores of supporters of one of China's most liberal newspapers demonstrated outside its headquarters on Monday in a rare protest against censorship, backing an unusual strike by journalists against interference by the provincial propaganda chief. 

    The protest in Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province, came amid an escalating standoff between the government and the people over press freedom. It is also an early test of Communist Party Chief Xi Jinping's commitment to reform. 

    Negotiations between journalists and officials, whom the protesters held responsible for replacing a New Year's letter to readers that called for a constitutional government with another piece lauding the party's achievements, continued into the night, a senior journalist who asked not to be named told NBC News.

     

    Police allowed the demonstration outside the headquarters of the Southern Group, illustrating that the Guangdong government, led by new appointee and rising political star Hu Chunhua, wants to tread carefully to contain rising public anger over censorship. 


    The protesters, most of them young, laid down small handwritten signs that said "freedom of expression is not a crime" and "Chinese people want freedom."

    China Nobel winner Mo Yan likens censorship to airport security

    Many clutched yellow chrysanthemums, symbolizing mourning the death of press freedom. 

    "The Nanfang (Southern) Media Group is relatively willing to speak the truth in China, so we need to stand up for its courage and support it now," Ao Jiayang, a young NGO worker with bright orange dyed hair, told Reuters. 

    AP

    Security guards stand near protest banners as flowers are laid outside the headquarters of Southern Weekly newspaper in Guangzhou, Guangdong on Monday.

    "We hope that through this we can fight for media freedom in China," Ao said. "Today's turnout reflects that more and more people in China have a civic consciousness."

    The U.S. State Department on Monday weighed in on the popular agitation for freer speech in China.

    "We believe that censorship of the media is incompatible with China’s aspirations to build a modern information-based economy and society," said spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, speaking to reporters at the daily department briefing. "It is, of course, interesting that we now have Chinese who are strongly taking up their right for free speech, and we hope the government’s taking notice."

    Could expand
    Chen Ziming, a Beijing-based political analyst who spent years in prison for his involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, said the protests could get worse if authorities ignore the protesters demands.

    "I am concerned … that the leaders concerned may not have the boldness and the capability to push for more reform," he told NBC News. "If the problem is not handled properly, there is the danger that it will expand and worsen."

    The non-profit watchdog group Reporters without Borders ranked China at 174th out of 179 spots in its 2011-2012 press freedom index. The United States ranked 47th in the annual report, six rungs above Hong Kong, a former British colony which is administered separately from China's mainland.

    "China, which has more journalists, bloggers and cyber-dissidents in prison than any other country, stepped up its censorship and propaganda in 2011 and tightened its control of the Internet, particularly the blogosphere," the group said in a report about the rankings.

    The attention paid to the protest domestically highlights the unique position of Guangdong, China's wealthiest and most liberal province and the birthplace of the country's "reform and opening up" program. In a symbolic move, Xi chose to go to Guangdong on his first trip after being anointed party chief in November.

    Mo Yan's Nobel win celebrated —and panned — in China

    "That this is happening in Guangdong, a trendsetter of China’s reform, is cause for worry," Bao Tong, the highest ranking party official sent to prison for sympathizing with the 1989 pro-democracy movement, told NBC News.

    "If Guangdong regresses, then it will be a setback for the reform pioneered by Xi Zhongxun," he said, referring to the father of new Party chief Xi Jinping who was once Guangdong’s governor.

    Revelations of vast fortune held by Chinese leader's family may hurt Communist Party image

    Talking to NBC News by telephone from his Beijing home where he remains under virtual house arrest, Bao said China’s new leaders recently called for protecting the constitution and rule of law.

    "What the journalists did was to support the call of the new leaders, and the leaders should be happy, not unhappy," he said.

    Several open letters have circulated on the Internet calling for the Guangdong propaganda chief, Tuo Zhen, to step down, blaming him for muzzling the press. 

     

     

     

     Photographs on microblogs showed banners that said "if the toxin of Tuo isn't removed ... Guangdong will be castrated." 

    "Not since the time of reform and opening up and the founding of China has there been someone like Tuo Zhen," Yan Lieshan, a retired veteran editor at the Southern Weekly newspaper, told Reuters by telephone. "He's too arrogant. He has gone overboard and constantly violates regulations." 

    Xiao Shu, a former prominent commentator at the Southern Weekly, said Tuo required that journalists submit topics for him to approve and that he yanked issues that he disliked. 

    Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei goes 'Gangnam Style'

    "These details illustrate one problem: that he has established within the Guangdong media a system of prior censorship of the press," Xiao said, calling for Tuo's removal. 

    Chinese Internet users already cope with extensive censorship, especially over politically sensitive topics like human rights and elite politics, and popular foreign sites Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube are blocked. 

    China shut the website of a leading pro-reform magazine on Friday, apparently because it ran an article calling for political reform and constitutional government, sensitive topics for the party which brooks no dissent.

    NBC News' Eric Baculinao, Le Li, Kari Huus and Reuters contributed to this report. 

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  • China's leader-elect: 'Worms' of corruption could destroy Communist Party

    Lintao Zhang / Getty Images

    Xi Jinping, one of the members of new seven-seat Politburo Standing Committee, delivers a speech after being appointed the new Communist Party of China leader last week.

    By NBC News wire reports

    BEIJING -- If corruption is allowed to run wild in China then the ruling Communist Party risks major unrest and the collapse of its rule, state media on Monday quoted Communist Party chief Xi Jinping as saying at one of his first major meetings since taking the role.


    In unusually blunt language, Vice President Xi, who assumes Hu Jintao's job as head of state in March, said that graft was like "worms breeding in decaying matter" -- an old Chinese phrase meaning "ruin befalls those who are weak."

    "In recent years, some countries have stored up problems over time leading to seething public anger, civil unrest and government collapse -- corruption has been an important factor in all this," state newspapers quoted Xi as telling a study session for the Politburo, the party's second-highest decision-making body.

    "A great deal of facts tell us that the worse corruption becomes the only outcome will be the end of the party and the end of the state! We must be vigilant!" Xi was quoted as saying.

    "Recently, our party has had serious discipline and legal cases of a despicable nature which has had a bad political effect and shocked people," he added, without naming any of these incidents.

    In his remarks, Xi dwelled at length on the importance of the party's theoretical foundations in Marxism, Leninism and the ideas espoused by his predecessors, but said leaders also had to be mindful of the practical realities of running the country and to reconnect with the population.

    Recent scandals
    The period leading up to this month's party congress -- at which a new generation of leaders was unveiled -- was overshadowed by a scandal involving former political heavyweight Bo Xilai, once a contender for top leadership in the world's second-largest economy.

    China's ruling Communist Party has selected Xi Jinping as the country's new leader. Xi faces a faltering economy, environmental issues, demands for political reforms, as well as rampant corruption and public cynicism. NBC's Ian Williams reports.

    China's communists pick country's new leader

    Bo was expelled from the party this year and faces possible charges of corruption and abuse of power, while his wife was jailed for murdering a British businessman.

    Xi said that party members, especially those at senior levels, should not abuse their positions for personal gain, and that they were not above the law.

    Officials "must also strengthen their management and control over their relations and those who work with them," Xi added.

    The New York Times said last month that the family of Premier Wen Jiabao had accumulated at least $2.7 billion in "hidden riches," a report China labeled a smear.

    PhotoBlog: Stuck behind the scenes as China's leadership changes hands

    However, without an independent judiciary, efforts to fight graft will almost certainly falter, and the control-obsessed party has shown no sign of embarking on this reform.

    Xi's language was unusually direct for a top leader, indicating his seriousness about the problem, but his speech gave few indications of how the party could better police itself, said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a political scientist at Hong Kong Baptist University.

    "He used strong words. It was clearly a warning: 'We have to do something about this,'" Cabestan said. "Clearly, for him, the crux of the matter is corruption. The trouble is, of course, that he doesn't tell us much about what are going to be the efficient tools or weapons he will put together to fight corruption."

    Read more on China from NBC's Behind the Wall

    Critique of predecessors?
    Xi also emphasized the need to narrow the gap between the party and the people in what seemed like an implicit critique of his predecessors, said Willy Lam, a political analyst at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

    Lam said Xi's frequent references to "the people" in his speech indicated that "the past two decades have resulted somehow in the people feeling alienated from the party."

    "Now what he's saying is that from day one is that we shall stick to the people. We will do what the people want," Lam said.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • China's communists pick country's new leader

    China's ruling Communist Party has selected Xi Jinping as the country's new leader. Xi faces a faltering economy, environmental issues, demands for political reforms, as well as rampant corruption and public cynicism. NBC's Ian Williams reports.

    By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

    BEIJING – China’s ruling Communist Party on Thursday selected a new seven-person leadership group fronted by Xi Jinping that will lead the world’s second largest economy for at least the next five years.


    Xi, the newly selected party secretary, and his deputy, Li Keqiang -- the new members of the all-important Politburo Standing Committee -- take over a nation whose economy has quadrupled under the leadership of outgoing leader, Hu Jintao, but now faces serious environmental, political and social questions in the near future.

    For Xi though, this Standing Committee appears better poised to bring about much-needed reforms than that of his predecessor, Hu.

    China’s Communist Party of today governs by consensus. Long gone are the days of “Strong Man” politics where one man – a Mao Zedong or Deng Xiaoping – dictates policy for the country.

    This political evolution helped produce the stability that has ushered in unprecedented economic growth.

    Remarkably this week saw only the second peaceful leadership transition since the communists took power in 1949.

    David Gray / Reuters

    A customer stands with restaurant workers underneath a painting of Chinese characters that read "Long-lasting Prosperity", as they watch television showing the new leadership of China's ruling Communist Party.

    The new leadership committee announced Thursday represents a rare balance of differing political agendas and alliances.

    Men like Li Keqiang – probably the party’s best educated leader – and Wang Qishan – a strong voice for the opening up of China’s economy – are likely to be liberal voices for reform.

    Communist Party's Congress grinds on amid widespread indifference in China

    Where is China's Vice President? That's the question that can't be answered in Beijing. Even searching for the name of China's Vice President on Chinese social media has been blocked amid increasing rumors about his whereabouts. Xi Jinping has been missing from the public eye for more than week. ITV's Angus Walker reports.  

    Meanwhile Zhang Dejiang – the faithful party stalwart who took over for the deposed Bo Xilai – and Liu Yunshan – the long-time czar of the Communist Party’s Propaganda Department – represent strong conservative voices.

    The other two members, Zhang Gaoli and Yu Zhengsheng, both come from postings in Tianjin and Shanghai respectively and have shown signs of being centrists on issues.

    Ironically, it is the new Party Secretary and soon-to-be President, Xi Jinping, who is the greatest mystery – a veritable political cipher.

    While the candidates are scrutinized and skewered by the media in the U.S., China's new leader Xi Jinping remains a man of mystery among his citizens. NBC's Ian Williams reports

    Yawns and other expressions of boredom as China's Communist Party Congress begins

    But that now seems to be the path to the top position in China: The less known about you politically, the greater the chance of promotion.

    There have been some questions raised about the various appointments that came out Thursday.

    Outgoing President Hu Jintao’s decision to give up his seat on the important Central Military Commission was either a magnanimous demonstration of statesmanship on the part of Hu -- who had to wait two years until his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, gave up the post -- or a resounding defeat as Hu's important political allies did not appear to have made the final seven of the standing committee.

    Embassy ballots give Chinese a glimpse of democracy ahead of power transfer

    Another intriguing development was the appointment of Wang Qishan to the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

    Wang has garnered a reputation as an effective “fireman” on sensitive issues affecting the party and in recent years has served as a capable counterpart to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

    But, at a time when serious economic concerns regarding the stalling of market reforms and the rise again of centrally planned, state-owned enterprises in China have plagued Beijing, it is a curious move to shift Wang, the strongest voice for economic reform in the party.

    His shift to the top disciplinary position in the party means Wang will be able to bring about positive economic development by attacking a larger issue plaguing both party and country: corruption.

    As China’s economy continues to develop in size and sophistication, the need for better standards of practice economically and politically have slowly started to manifest itself.

    There is some optimism now that with a reformer like Wang in place, there will eventually be the political will at the highest levels to bring about a serious reckoning on systemic corruption at both national and local levels across the country. 

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  • Communist Party's Congress grinds on amid widespread indifference in China

    Peter Parks / AFP - Getty Images

    Chinese President Hu Jintao is seen speaking at the opening of the 18th Communist Party Congress on a television in a subway train in Shanghai on Nov. 8.

    By Ian Williams, NBC News

    BEIJING -- I arrived in Beijing for what the Global Times, a Chinese newspaper, described as “one of the biggest political events in history.”

    “Are you watching?” I asked my driver on the way in from the airport. He looked at me and laughed. “Why would I watch that?” he replied.

    A little later I settled down in my hotel bar over a glass of Great Wall cabernet sauvignon.  “Are you watching the Congress?” I asked my server. Again that quizzical look. “Oh, I don’t care about that,” she replied, before slipping behind the bar and resuming whatever she was doing on her mobile phone, which judging by her concentration she did care about very much.

    The 18th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has begun with great pomp and ceremony in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square. It is important -- a once-in-a-decade leadership change at a time when the country is facing enormous challenges, from a faltering economy to rampant corruption that goes to the core of the party.

    China launches once-in-a-decade changing of guard

    But among many Chinese, away from the stuffy heart of this city (from which carrier pigeons have been banned, incidentally, as a security precaution), the meeting might as well be taking place on the moon, among green aliens with spiky heads.

    That's how relevant it seems to them.

    The official media has given it blanket coverage, while at the same time trying to limit discussion in China's vibrant social media -- slowing internet speeds and even blocking the Chinese translation for the 18th Congress from search engines.

    Aside from the pigeon ban, taxis are required to keep their back windows locked, presumably to prevent the distribution of subversive pamphlets, and tiny remote-controlled aircraft have been outlawed.

    24 hours after President Barack Obama was re-elected to the White House, the world's other major power, China, began the very different process of choosing its new leader. It happens once every ten years, and lasts just a week. And in case there was any doubt, the ruling Communist Party began by pledging never to have Western democracy. NBC's Angus Walker reports.

    Still, the party “will continue to inject vigor to national politics,” declared the Global Times at the weekend.

    “Vigor” isn’t the first world that comes to mind when you see the line up of gray men (you’ll be hard pressed to find many woman near the top of the CPC) in gray suites, gathering mostly to dutifully endorse decisions already made.

    Throwback: China's ex-president flexes power broker muscle in Beijing

    Much of the proceedings are behind closed doors and the main qualification for advancement in the party is to not the rock the boat. Opinions are dangerous; flamboyance can be fatal to a career in the CPC.

    Diego Azubel / EPA

    The party is expected to use the highly orchestrated event to persuade the nation's 1.3 billion people that it can provide another 10 years of economic growth and social stability while curbing corruption and nepotism.

    The report from the retiring party boss and head of state, Hu Jintao, which kicked off the Congress, hailed as a masterpiece by Chinese newspapers, was of such length and mind-boggling tedium that initially it left analysts struggling to figure what precisely whether it was reformist, reactionary, liberal or conservative.

    Probably all of the above.

    Just ahead of Congress, I had embarked on a journey across the Beijing to test opinion. It was hardly scientific, but I figured I'd at least get a sense of what ordinary Chinese were thinking.

    I started by bike in the narrow alleyways around the surviving hutongs in an older part of the city.

    Here the residents are older too, and a question from a foreigner about the Communist Party, produces an embarrassed wave of the hand, or provokes a speedy retreat behind closed doors. Ordinary Chinese of a certain age have seen how capricious and brutal the party can be and know better than to openly discuss politics with a foreigner.

    Despite deadly week, Communist Party says Tibetans 'feel very happy'

    An exception was an elderly man who stood bold upright and recited how China's new leaders would build a strong and prosperous country. But what of Xi Jinping, the man soon to be anointed leader. What does he stand for, how exactly will he do that, I asked. The door swung open and he too was gone.

    I approached a man barbecuing some skewered lamb. He claimed not to understand my interpreter, though did I detect an extra touch of aggression with those skewers at the mention of the party?

    I then took a taxi figuring that cabbies everywhere have an opinion. But not this one, shaking his head, waving his hand, and probably wishing his wheezing vehicle had an ejector seat. I pressed on. I know what President Obama listens to on his iPod, I explained, and what Mitt Romney has for breakfast. Did he think Xi Jinping has an iPod?

    At that he just burst out laughing, and laughed, and laughed, until he dropped me at a Beijing university, where my luck changed.

    While the candidates are scrutinized and skewered by the media in the U.S., China's new leader Xi Jinping remains a man of mystery among his citizens. NBC's Ian Williams reports

    Here almost all the youngsters I met had heard of Xi, but professed to know hardly anything about him. What does he stand for? Two young women looked blankly at each other. "We don’t know," they said in unison, as if this was the most stupid question they'd ever heard. Does Xi have kids? I asked another couple. "I don't know," said one. "And I don't care." said the other.

    Another young man looked puzzled. "But we don't vote," he said, which I guess goes to the heart of the matter. Why should we care, he seemed to be saying, what's this process got to do with us?

    Perhaps out of desperation, I did what a lot of Beijingers are doing these days and went to a fortune teller. He rumbled me immediately, and declared that he didn’t do politics, and that his crystal ball certainly didn't stretch to the Communist Party. "I don't know and I don’t care," he declared.

    The party, at least its more perceptive members, do seem to recognize the challenges they -- and China -- face. But the prescription for these ills appears to be more of the same. Its still a brave and lonely voice that will call for greater openness, transparency and accountability.

    CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera reports on China's selection of new leaders to meet public calls for better government and give the economy a boost.

    The congress will end with the unveiling of the new leadership. Yet in spite of acres of fevered analysis from China-watchers, the reality is that we know virtually nothing about what Xi Jinping thinks about anything, let alone the secretive process by which he was selected.

    Is he another grey and cautious techocrat or a closet reformer? Take your pick. We can all be experts in the face of the party's secrecy.

    Embassy ballots give Chinese a taste of democracy ahead of power transfer

    On paper at least the Communist Party has 82 million members, but only a tiny clique make the real decisions, and there is an enormous gulf -- vast and growing -- between them and the people it is supposed to represent, a gulf filled increasingly with cynicism and distrust.

    Peter Parks / AFP - Getty Images

    President Hu Jintao, seen on a television in a motorcycle repair shop in Shanghai, called for stepped-up political reform and a revamped economic model as the Communist Party opened a historic congress to usher in a new slate of leaders.

    China has changed dramatically since the party last changed its leaders a decade ago -- from the economy to the thriving social media that's such a thorn in the side of the leadership, and where the timing of the leadership change, so soon after the raucous U.S. election has provoked many an uncomfortable (for the party) comparison.

    The dynamism elsewhere in China is in stark contrast with the ossified spectacle on display this week in the Great Hall. Those carrier pigeons are the least of the party’s problems.

     

  • Panetta meets with China's Xi, eats lunch with cadets

    Larry Downing / Pool via Reuters

    U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta carries his lunch with cadets in the mess hall at the PLA Engineering Academy of Armored Forces in Beijing, Sept. 19.

    Larry Downing / Pool via Reuters

    U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has lunch with cadets in the mess hall at the PLA Engineering Academy of Armored Forces on Sept. 19 in Beijing, China.

    Larry Downing / Pool via Reuters

    U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, left, sits with China's Vice President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Sept. 19.

    By Phaedra Singelis, NBC News

    Panetta met with Chinese leader-in-waiting Xi today, who just days ago reappeared after a puzzling two-week absence. Panetta told the press his “impression was that he was very healthy and very engaged." He also ate lunch with and spoke to cadets at the Armored Forces Engineering Academy where he reassured them about America's plans to put a second radar system in Japan. "Our rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region is not an attempt to contain China," he said. "It is an attempt to engage China and expand its role in the Pacific. It is about creating a new model in the relationship of two Pacific powers."

    Panetta is on the second stop of a three nation tour to Japan, China and New Zealand.

    Full story

  • Report: China's VP appears in public for first time in two weeks

    Diego Azubel / EPA

    A file photo dated Aug. 30 shows Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Reports say Xi, who is expected to lead the ruling Communist Party from next month, is recovering from an injury.

    By Reuters

    Updated 12:45 p.m. ET Saturday: BEIJING - China's leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping appeared in public on Saturday for the first time in about two weeks, state news agency Xinhua reported, following rumors about his health or the state of the country's leadership succession.

    Xinhua said Vice President Xi "arrived at China Agricultural University Saturday morning for activities marking this year's National Science Popularization Day."

    Pictures on state television's main evening news showed a healthy-looking, relaxed Xi inspecting ears of corn, chatting with students and laughing with children. Reuters had reported that Xi was likely to make an appearance on Saturday.

    A later, full description of Xi's visit by Xinhua said he inspected exhibitions on growing drought-resistant corn and a talk on how to fight food adulteration, a perennial problem in the world's second-largest economy.

    "Food is the people's first necessity, and food safety is an important issue for people's livelihood," the report quoted him as saying.

    None of the reports made mention of Xi's recent absence.

    Sources have told Reuters Xi hurt his back while swimming earlier this month and that he had been obeying doctors' orders to get more bed rest and undergo physiotherapy.

    Xi had been out of the public eye for almost two weeks and had skipped meetings with foreign leaders and dignitaries, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

    Chinese government officials repeatedly refused to say what happened to him, fuelling speculation that has included Xi supposedly suffering a heart attack, a stroke, emergency cancer surgery and even an attempted assassination.

    The health of the country's leaders has long been considered a state secret in China.

    The ruling Communist Party's refusal to comment on his disappearance from public view and absence from scheduled events was in keeping with its traditional silence on the question of the health of top leaders, but it had worried or mystified most China watchers.

    Xi had last appeared in public on September 1. He pulled a back muscle while swimming shortly before Clinton arrived on an official visit on September 4, the sources said, forcing him to scrap a meeting with her the next day and also with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

    On Wednesday, state media carried comments attributed to Xi for the first time since he dropped out of sight, but there was no public sighting of him or any new photographs.

    Beijing has yet to announce formally a date for the party's five-yearly congress, at which Xi is tipped to replace Hu Jintao as party chief, although it is still expected to be held in mid or late October at the earliest.

    In March next year, he is formally to take up the reins of the world's second-largest economy.

    The uncertainty surrounding Xi's absence has had no impact so far on Chinese or foreign markets, which have been absorbed by Europe's debt crisis and China's own economic slowdown. But investors have been keeping a close eye on the mystery surrounding Xi, after months of high political drama in China.

    Senior leader Bo Xilai was suspended from the party's 25-member Politburo in April and his wife convicted of the murder of a British businessman. Blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng escaped from house arrest in April and took refuge in the U.S. embassy before leaving for New York.

    In another scandal this month, a senior ally of President Hu was demoted after sources said the ally's son was killed in a crash involving a luxury sports car.

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Mystery absence of China's heir-apparent, Xi Jinping, sparks rumors

    Where is China's Vice President? That's the question that can't be answered in Beijing. Even searching for the name of China's Vice President on Chinese social media has been blocked amid increasing rumors about his whereabouts. Xi Jinping has been missing from the public eye for more than week. ITV's Angus Walker reports.  

    By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

    BEIJING -- Weeks before a once-in-a-decade political transition in China, the presumed future leader of China has fallen off the radar -- sparking wild rumors on micro-blogging sites about his health and whereabouts.

    Xi Jinping, the man many assume will become the future president of China and chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, has not been seen in public now for more than a week. The 59-year-old was last seen on Sept. 1 while giving a speech at the Central Party School in Beijing.

    Since then, Xi has cancelled a series of meetings with senior foreign leaders including Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

    After Xi’s meeting with Clinton was cancelled late on the night of Sept. 4, rumors began to swirl around the U.S. press corps travelling with the Secretary that Xi had injured his back.

    The Chinese government has since declined to give any updates on Xi’s health and present whereabouts. At yesterday’s regularly scheduled Chinese Foreign Ministry press conference, ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, was asked a series of questions about Xi to which he simply responded, "We have told everyone everything."

    China Daily via Reuters

    Xi Jinping (right) pictured in Beijing with South Korea's ambassador to China, Lee Kyu-hyung on August 31 - the day before his most recent public appearance.

    According to a Reuters reporter who went to the regular Chinese Foreign Ministry press conference Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei was asked if he could confirm that Xi was alive. His response: "I hope you can ask a serious question."

    China's president-in-waiting Xi Jinping returns to Iowa

    The reticence of Chinese government officials and state media to comment has merely served as grist to the rumor mill, which has had ample material following an unusually eventful year of political intrigue on the mainland.

    The very high profile fall of former Chongqing Party boss, Bo Xilai, ripped aside the political curtains and gave the Chinese public a peek at the country’s usually opaque process of governance. Besides systemic corruption and serious political abuses, Bo's downfall also exposed divisive political rivalries at the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party at a time when it was in the thick of choosing its future leadership.

    The Three Gorges Hotel and a passenger terminal come crashing down in China to make room for a transportation hub and business center. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    Now, with a new generation of Chinese leaders led by Xi poised to take over when the Communist Party’s 18th Congress meets later this year -- rumored sometime in mid-October -- Chinese regulators are especially cautious about news on their leaders-in-waiting.

    News of Xi Jinping has been absent in recent days in Chinese state media and discussion on his whereabouts and condition have been silenced on microblogs like Weibo after Xi's name was blocked by censors. Some articles printed in online sections of foreign news websites were also apparently blocked.

    In this news vacuum, rumors have begun to swirl around online about the fate of Xi. Most of the speculation focuses on the belief that Xi has some sort of back problem, with the reason for it ranging from a morning swimming session at Beijing leadership’s center, Zhongnanhai, to an ill-fated soccer game there too.    

    With wife's conviction, what is next for China's Bo Xilai?

    The rumors have also been more nefarious in nature. Boxun.com, a U.S.-based website dealing in Chinese news and political gossip, posted a wild, unconfirmed story that Xi had been injured in a car accident in which his vehicle had been struck by another car driven by military officers loyal to the disgraced Bo Xilai.

    Boxun later retracted the story, but it has it not stopped similar unsubstantiated rumors from spreading online, forcing government censors to ceaselessly monitor China’s websphere for content that they characterize as harmful to national stability.

    The wife of a disgraced Chinese politician has been given a suspended death sentence for her role in the death of British businessman, Neil Heywood.  ITV's Angus Walker reports.

    It is not unusual that Chinese leaders would not show up in public for a few days or a week at a time and, of course, Xi could simply appear in public and quickly quash speculation about his health. After all, late last year former Chinese President Jiang Zemin made a rare appearance in public after Hong Kong media speculated that he had died.

    More China coverage from NBCNews.com's Behind The Wall

    However, Jiang, while still extremely influential in the Party leadership, is not a part of the formal government. As the long-established heir-apparent to Hu Jintao for the Chinese Presidency, Xi is the future.

    Whatever the true nature of Xi’s public absence, China’s leadership faces an enormous challenge in reconciling its proclivity for opaqueness with the demands of an increasingly plugged-in society at home and a global audience abroad.

    More world stories from NBC News:

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  • China to ease access for US movies, Biden says

     

    By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services

    WASHINGTON -- China has agreed to significantly improve market access for American movies, capping a weeklong visit by China's leader-in-waiting that led to billions of dollars in business deals, Vice President Joe Biden said Friday.

    "This agreement with China will make it easier than ever before for U.S. studios and independent filmmakers to reach the fast-growing Chinese audience, supporting thousands of American jobs in and around the film industry," Biden said in a statement obtained by NBC News after Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping's whirlwind tour to the United States. "At the same time, Chinese audiences will have access to more of the finest films made anywhere in the world."

    "U.S. studios and independent filmmakers cite China as one of their most important world markets, but barriers imposed by China and challenged by the United States in the WTO have artificially reduced the revenue U.S. film producers received from their movies in the Chinese market," said United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk. "This agreement will help to change that, boosting one of America's strongest export sectors in one of our largest export markets."

    Pool / Getty Images

    Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, left, shows Vice President Joe Biden a chocolate-covered macadamia nut, given to him by Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie, at the start of a meeting of Chinese and American governors Friday at Disney Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

    On a global basis, films and other audiovisual services create a $12 billion trade surplus in the sector for the United States, the White House said.

    Last year, Chinese box office revenue was up to $2.1 billion, with much of that from 3D titles.

    The agreement allows more American exports to China of 3D, IMAX, and similar enhanced-format movies on favorable commercial terms, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said.

    "This is a major step forward in spurring the growth of U.S. exports to China," Chris Dodd, president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), said in a statement.

    "It has long been a top priority for the MPAA, and it is tremendous news for the millions of American workers and businesses whose jobs depend on the entertainment industry."

    Walt Disney Co. president and CEO Robert Iger said in a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter: "China is one of the most populous countries in the world, and this agreement represents a significant opportunity to provide Chinese audiences increased access to our films."

    The U.S. movie industry has long complained about China's tight restrictions on the number of foreign films allowed into the country each year, a limit that they say helps fuel demand for pirated DVDs that are widely available in China.

    While the quota of 20 foreign films per year remains in place, Beijing granted other concessions that pleased Hollywood.

    The deal strengthens the opportunities to distribute films through private enterprises rather than the state film monopoly, and ensures fairer compensation levels for U.S. blockbuster films distributed by Chinese state-owned enterprises, U.S. trade officials said.

    The agreement will be reviewed after 5 years to ensure that it is working as envisioned, they said.

    NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News

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