Editor's Statement

This edition of the Journal covers a variety of topics, several of which are current hot issues and several of which are introductory efforts that we will continue to cover in subsequent issues.  The first article tackles an issue of growing importance; the relationships between China and Africa; particularly trade that is developing between China and the 53 individual African countries.  As a demonstration of our continuing interest in this issue we plan to conduct a one day seminar on this topic in the spring 2008 in Washington DC at one of the local universities.  We follow this up with an article on US – India relations which considers the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) as a third party in these matters.  The third article is an impressionistic piece regarding public administration scholarship in Northwestern China, an area not often visited by American scholars.  This article is noteworthy because it is written by David Rosenbloom America’s foremost public administration scholar

Editor's Statement

We begin the second year of publication of the Journal of the Washington Institute of China Studies with an article on a topic which main stream public administration journals will not touch. It deals with a topic that the general public knows exists but which public administration scholars refuse to recognize – pathological government. Why do so many government programs fail to resolve problems and primarily only spend tax payers money. This enables politicians to buy votes with our taxes. Politicians walk away with more dreams to expand the size of government and keep incumbents reelected. Government remains the only institution that can make corruption legal. If one doubts this look at the tax code. Professor Bingman explores the topic based on his long career in government and as a consultant to many countries. His vast experience is not based on statistics or counting noses but rather on experience. This topic is worth pursing from a world wide perspective not merely US and PRC

Editor's Statement

As we go to press, the fact that both the U.S. and China have selected leaders far outweighs the content of our journal in importance.  Nevertheless I will run through the contents of this edition.  We start off with a review of one of China’s most critical but rarely discussed issues:  its population.  The one child policy in China gets plenty of attention but the unintended side effect is where the problem lies.   The key question is who will support the current generation of old folks when they retire.  The next article looks at renewable energy in China.  The authors examine the market barriers and policy options of this issue

Editor's Statement

We begin on a quarterly basis for the Journal of WICS for 2008. We hope to receive interesting manuscripts from our readers that will enable us to continue to publish articles on diverse topics that reflect issues of importance to the US and PRC