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Rana Mitter

Rana Mitter

Rana Mitter is Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford and author of A Bitter Revolution: China’s Struggle with the Modern World and China’s War with Japan, 1937-45: The Struggle for Survival

British opposition to a takeover of the Welsh microchip factory Newport Wafer Fab by the Chinese-backed company Nexperia shows need for consistent, long-term strategy, writes Rana Mitter.

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It makes no more sense to say Hong Kong’s colonial legacy is irrelevant to Chinese identity, than it does to say China’s constitution should be abolished because it originated in the Qing dynasty, writes Rana Mitter.

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The strange case of sovereignty in Northern Ireland shows the dangers, as well as the opportunities, that come when a patch of land is subject to two very different interpretations of its identity.

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China’s hygiene fixation is rooted in trying to combat colonialists. Decades on, it is exposing a problem with the country’s modernisation: an increasingly unhealthy lack of transparency.

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Beijing’s raid on student activists and young Maoists reveals its anxiety about Mao Zedong’s legacy. Although Mao was dedicated to violent change, his legacy is more complex than that and he still commands respect among the Chinese.

China seeks to lead the modern world. Yet its reaction to scholar Xu Zhangrun’s veiled criticism of Xi Jinping suggests its attitude to intellectuals is stuck in the past

Between mainland calls for reunification and military displays on the island, tensions are at a new high. But for these two, there’s a reason why stalemate never gets stale.

From foreigners running the country’s lucrative customs service, to Mao’s ‘self-reliance’, to finally joining the WTO; terms of trade have long shaped China’s relationship with the West.

The scrapping of presidential term limits in China puts a question mark over what will come next. But ignore lazy rhetoric that likens Xi to an emperor – China’s chequered history of power transitions provides few answers.

Washington’s stubborn isolationism leaves it out of the global conversation and headed towards an agenda on trade and security shared by almost nobody else

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