Is China's New 'Charm Offensive' Doomed to Fail?

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For the second time in 20 years, the leaders of China have just completed a peaceful transition of power. Xi Jinping has become the Communist Party Chairman, Commander in Chief of the Army and—yesterday--President of the Country.  All that took place, as usual, behind closed doors. Xi will be running an economic powerhouse with an inferiority complex about its lack of cultural influence. He says, "Just as China needs to learn more about the world, so does the world need to learn more about China." But, can he develop China's "soft-power" in the face of political censorship, limits on foreign tourism and military saber rattling?  We hear about the contradictions that make the world's second most powerful nation harder to understand — and more frightening — than it wants to be.

Credits

Guests:

Host:

Warren Olney