The 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party: What Next?

The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as widely expected and reported, confirmed Xi Jinping’s position as general secretary of the CCP for a normbreaking third term. But this is not the only reason why this Congress marks an historical change and has profound implications for both domestic and foreign policy

China in Italy: Risk Assessment and Preventive Solutions

Italy’s 2019 decision to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with China in support of the Belt and Road Initiative sparked a heated debate at home and abroad. The possibility of Italy upgrading its trade and investment relations with China through the shortcut of a political endorsement of President Xi Jinping’s flagship foreign-policy initiative was framed as either a heaven-sent opportunity or a serious strategic threat. Two years on, most of the concerns pointed out in the debate, especially regarding infrastructures, have proven unsubstantiated (although the economic opportunities for which the Italian Government wished have also failed to materialise). However, cooperation initiatives between Italian and Chinese entities in sectors often overlooked in the mainstream debate, such as media and academic partnerships, do present risks. The creation of an interagency China Information and Coordination Unit would help to prevent – or, at least, to minimise – such risks

China’s official narratives on Xinjiang : interethnic mingling, economic prosperity and religious terrorism

The northwest region of Xinjiang in the People’s Republic of China has drawn international attention recently because of state-perpetrated violence towards its non-Han population. This paper examines how Chinese authorities construct their narratives about the Xinjiang issue and justify their actions in the region. The analysis will focus on official white papers published by the State’s Council Information Office. Through the investigation of the documents, three main narratives on Xinjiang will be presented, together with the way in which they have developed over the past decades. Each will be then situated within the larger transformation of Chinese politics and political discourse in recent years, especially since General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping has taken office. Instead of considering Beijing’s narratives on Xinjiang as an exception, this essay maintains that their underlying paradigms comply with Chinese governmental strategy as a whole, although the repression in Xinjiang represents their extreme consequences

Doing Things with Metaphors in Contemporary China

The 'Chinese dream' sums up China's goals in the twenty-first century. Since its first appearance in 2012, the concept of the Chinese dream has been the core of Xi Jinping's "new thoughts, new ideas and new arguments". At the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China it was elevated as one of the guiding principles of 'Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era', which represents the latest effort towards the Sinicization of Marxism. This paper aims at casting light on whether the discourse on the Chinese dream carries new contents or is based on old concepts 'camouflaged' as new. To do so, it will analyse the ideological implications of those 'creative metaphors' that compose the discursive mosaic of the Chinese dream as used by Xi Jinping in his political speeches. Drawing on the studies on conceptual metaphors and frame analysis, this study analyses those metaphorical expressions that are purposely outlined in the transcription of the speeches with the aim of signaling the originality of "Xi's language style". The final aim is to provide insight into what these 'creative metaphors' are doing in contemporary China. Results show that 'creative metaphors' in the discourse on the Chinese dream are meant to set the agenda on revitalising morality within the Party as well as 'unifying' values in today's Chinese society, and most of them are far from being new in Chinese political discourse

The Belt and Road initiative in Italy. Five case studies

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by the Italian government in 2019 sparked a fierce debate at the time, as Italy was the first (and the only) G7 country officially joining the highly controversial Chinese initiative. The United States and several European countries expressed concerns about what they saw as Italy’s embarking on a dangerous road for its sovereignty as well as for the Euro-Atlantic community. Despite being the focus of media and scholars’ attention in 2019, no comprehensive study has been conducted so far assessing the development of the BRI in Italy. This book attempts to fill this void. It focuses on five fields of cooperation between China and Italy, providing insight on whether the MoU has brought about an intensification of bilateral collaboration as wished by the Italian government at the time and whether the concerns of US and EU have materialised

La Cina e la guerra d’Ucraina

China’s leadership has walked a tightrope since the early stages of the invasion, in the attempt not to alienate Ukraine, an important trade partner, without disavowing its partnership with Russia. China has recognised Russia’s security concerns as legitimate but has refrained from fully embracing Moscow’s narrative of the war. It has repeatedly expressed support for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity but has failed to acknowledge that Russia has violated both. China’s ambiguity has contributed to straining its relations with the EU, as attested to by the “dialogue of the deaf” on display during the April EU-China summit

Dalla ‘civiltà spirituale’ allo ‘spirito cinese’: strategie di governance nella Cina post-maoista

Jingshen 精神, ‘spirit’, has been a keyword of Chinese political discourse since the late 19th-early 20th century, when it was used to express the need to carve out a nation-mindedness in China. Since the late 1970s it has been brushed up in the formula ‘spiritual civilization’ and recently the formulation ‘China spirit’ has come out. This study traces the evolution of ‘spirit’ in Chinese political discourse and, by doing so, it will point out what the new ‘China spirit’ promoted by the current leadership entails in terms of governance strategy