One of the anomalies of the modern world is that one of its most important political events – leadership changes around the five yearly Communist Party congresses in China – hardly registers in the international mainstream media. However, we should be following what happens as closely, perhaps even more closely, as we do Washington, Paris or London politics.

Despite changing attitudes toward globalization in many parts of the world, shared interests, shared destiny and “one world one dream” continues to be China’s lofty ideal to build a “community of nations with shared destiny” with all nations in the world.

The sudden and unceremonious dismissal of Chongqing’s party chief Sun Zhengcai, who was replaced by former Guizhou province party chief Chen Mine’er, is the latest illustration of the precarious political security of high-ranking members of the Chinese party-state.

There are many uncertainties about China’s upcoming 19th Party Congress. It is too early and risky to make any bold predictions (even the date of the Congress is not confirmed), but there is still interesting speculation about the potential rule changes in age and term limits, the impacts of Guo Wengui’s allegations against Wang Qishan, and the spectre of Xi Jinping serving a third term.

Beginning by educating Africans on Chinese culture through Confucius Institutes on the continent, China now provides thousands of scholarships per year to African seeking to study at Chinese universities. But this arrangement is more than an educational exchange; it is Chinese soft power at work.

Several Chinese friends have sympathetically said that I am “too Americanized,” as if I have betrayed my own culture. But I am definitely not American, and I have no desire to become one. My mindset hasn’t shifted to a nationalist one, nor have I joined the “China-bashing club,” while I’m certainly critical about all its faults. Watching China from afar, I’ve gained a much clearer view of its problems than when I was on the ground covering and living through them.

In 2017, 10 million Chinese high school students compete fiercely for college entry. At the same time, as many as 7 million college graduates will enter the job market. Without appropriate measures to be taken, the employment of college graduates could become a problem causing big headache.

While China barrels ahead building a new Silk Road for the 21st century, abandoned zones in the West reach a dead end.

Between them, Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia have been subject to many of the tools that Chinese authorities use to suppress online speech. The breadth and intensity of these measures has placed China at the bottom of Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net rankings, which assess 65 countries, for the past two years.

The message congressional Republicans took from the 2016 elections was that Republican voters like Trump and hate virtually everyone else in the Republican Party. They fear that if they ever break rank with him they’ll be voted out in the next election. Few politicians got very far by blaming the electorate or scolding them for their bad choices.