Search

Grounded in comparative law research, this paper compares differences in the regulation of online child pornography in China and the United States. The United States began regulating child pornography through criminal law in the 1970s, gradually refining the laws to distinguish between child pornography and obscenity and prohibit the possession of child pornography and virtual child pornography. In contrast, China treats child pornography on an equal footing with adult pornography, but imposes more lenient penalties on disseminating child pornography, which has led to the proliferation of child pornography. By comparing the two countries' policies and laws on child pornography, this review makes four recommendations for other countries: (i) define child pornography in criminal law; (ii) distinguish between obscenity and child pornography; (iii) prohibit virtual child pornography on the internet; and (iv) increase criminal penalties for child pornography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of COVID-19 has provided a new vigor to addressed global health issues. In this regard, global health diplomacy initiatives have seen a considerable surge. Countries around the world are using the opportunity to harness the potential of global health diplomacy in cultivating relations with several countries and also building a soft power projection. A case in point is how China has been spearheading global health efforts to improve relations while projecting a soft power about how China aims to act as global savior. Chinese efforts were able to gain significant traction owing to the fact that the United States under the administration of President Trump suspended its global leadership role, the first such instance in the post-World War-II era. This paper explains the concept of global health diplomacy by conducting a comparative analysis of the global health efforts and policies undertaken by both the United States and China by following qualitative research technique and secondary sources to explain the phenomenon. The study found that China led the response to COVID-19 not only domestically but globally as well. The U.S. lagged but gradually started to compete China in health diplomacy. There is an evident struggle for dominance in health sector between China and the U.S., however, it is not expected to lead into hard power struggle. The paper has concluded that it is important for both countries to work together in future in case of pandemic to spearhead an international effort against such crises. Moreover, it recommends Chinese authorities to include health corridor as a component with Belt and Road Initiative. On the other hand, the United States under the administration of President Joe Biden should invest in multilateral efforts so to empower global health institutions to better prepare for future health crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last three decades, a networked global system has emerged in the natural-science-based disciplines, sustained by collegial epistemic relations in universities. Nationally ordered and funded science has expanded alongside the global science system. The common global pool of papers, defined by bibliometric collections, nevertheless excludes large components of knowledge. In the global system, four tendencies are apparent: (1) rapid growth of papers, (2) diversification of scientific capacity to many more countries, (3) expansion of networked international and national collaboration as measured by co-authorship, (4) growing multi-polarity of capacity, outputs and quality, with the rise of China and several middle-sized national systems outside the Euro-American bloc. The paper critiques the interpretation of global science dominant in scientometrics, in which positivist data analyses are applied to performative national comparisons. It argues for a historical-synthetic explanation of the global system that combines data and theorisation, and accounts for relations of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the divorce trends in the United States and China since 1980 and examines the consistency and disparity of alternative measures of divorce rate. While divorce rate is a special sociodemographic indicator, with different measures often yielding inconsistent or even contradictory results, this study contributes to the literature with a comparative analysis using data from the United States and China over 40 years. Results suggest that, as compared to the refined divorce rate (number of divorces per 1,000 married population) that counts only people with a possibility to divorce, the widely used crude divorce rate (number of divorces per 1,000 population) overestimated the increase in China's divorce rate from 1980 to 2019 by 60.76% and the decrease in U.S. divorce rate over the same period by 15.13%. Also, although in 1980 the U.S. divorce rates were much higher than the corresponding Chinese rates, divorce rates in these two nations, with very different socioeconomic systems and stages of economic development, are progressively getting closer in recent years. However, whether and when China's divorce rate may start to decrease, following an inverted U-shaped pattern over time observed in the United States and some other nations, remains a question for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China and the United States are both major countries in the world in the production of and trade in wind energy products, and they are also important trading partners. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to analyze and evaluate the Sino-US bilateral wind power complementarity for re-examining their respective comparative advantages and re-understanding the benefits that trade liberalization brings to both countries, in an attempt to strengthen the trade relations between China and the United States and enhance trade complementarities in wind energy products under the global circumstances of fierce competition. In this paper, based on the trade data from the UN Comtrade database in 2007-2016, a quantitative analysis was conducted on the complementarity of Sino-US wind energy products, by adopting the quantitative research methods of trade combination degree index (TCD), export similarity index (SI) and trade complementarity index (TCI). The results shows that: i) the total trade volume of wind energy products between China and the United States has increased rapidly, and the trade surplus between China and the United States has been expanding year by year; ii) the overall trade balance of wind energy products trade between the two countries is generally stable, and the dependence of China's wind energy products on the United States is much higher than that of the U.S wind energy products on China; iii) the Sino-US wind energy products between China and the United States are highly competitive in the international market; iv) Sino-US wind energy products have different degrees of complementarity in bilateral trade. Finally, this paper proposed policy implications based on the findings of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The request of Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce firm, to allow a self-selected group of its past and present management known as the 'partners' the right to nominate a majority of the directors in its negotiation with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for an initial public offering has reignited a new round of debate over the one share, one vote policy, which has survived for 27 years in Hong Kong. This paper discusses the viability of allowing the dual-class share structure in the city. Although the United States has adopted dual-class share structures for decades, this paper identifies the major institutional differences between Hong Kong and the United States and argues that Hong Kong should not follow suit due to these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asia's middle powers face a trilateral dilemma stemming from their relationships with the U.S. and China. This paper uses the Australian example to examine the dilemma. It shows that Australia has bound itself to the U.S. because of domestic political factors, cost considerations, a belief that it can keep its interests separate, and its perception of regional threats. The paper then argues that others are likely to resolve their trilateral dilemmas in ways that make the regional strategic dynamic more competitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines US-China trade disputes under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and argues that Chinese leaders are increasingly resorting to the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism to target issues of most critical concern to domestic constituencies. The following overview of the WTO disputes initiated by China suggests that China's WTO disputes tend to be dominated by cases involving anti-dumping duties (ADs) and countervailing duties (CVDs). The disproportionate share of such trade remedy cases in China's WTO cases needs to be viewed in light of the fact that China has become the leading target of such cases worldwide in the past decades. The above pattern of China's WTO initiation is explicable within the leader cost-benefit analysis, which would lead us to expect Chinese leaders to use the WTO DSM either to open foreign markets for Chinese businesses or to shield domestic firms from perceived unfair foreign trade practices. This paper further argues that the significant expansion of bilateral trade relations in the past decades has provided opportunities for Chinese leaders to identify or threaten retaliation against anti-protectionist groups in the other country in order to mobilise them against the disputed measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author aims to examine the differences in perception concerning the anxiety toward the risk among three countries — Japan, the United States of America and China. The anxiety, in this case, is triggered by uncertainty. This paper also intends to clarify the effect of information to improve people's risk management targeted on the respondents of the Chinese population focusing on earthquake disasters. The social survey using questionnaire has been carried out in order to obtain the needed quantitative data for my research project. It is interesting to conclude that both respondents in China and in the United States tend to accept the impact of uncertainty better. They have shown somewhat lower level of anxiety toward nineteen items of the risks as compared with that of the Japanese respondents. The significant effects on information designed as a part of the risk management action plan as well as the living sufficiency safeguard are clearly observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes China's impact on Australia-U.S. relations from 1949 to 1996, including how far Australia's China policy followed the American lead. The conclusion: American influence was dominant, but Australia's own initiative was enough to belie the suggestion that it was no more than a blind follower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The northeastern China, the United States, and the western Europe are important agricultural regions both on the global and regional scales. The western Europe has a longer history of agricultural land development than the eastern United States. These two regions have changed from the deforestation and reclamation phase in the past to the current land abandonment and reforestation phase. Compared with the two regions, large-scale land exploitation has only been practiced in the northeastern China during the last century. After a short high-intensity deforestation and reclamation period, agricultural and forest lands are basically in a dynamic steady state. By comparing domestic and international agro-forestry development and considering the ecological environment and socio-economic benefits that can be derived from agro-forestry, this paper suggests that large area of reforestation would be inevitable in future though persistent and large agricultural demand in coming decades even more. And local reforestation at slope farmland with ecological vulnerability should be imperative at present to avoid severer damage. At the same time, from the perspective of Land Change Science, the results demonstrate that the research on land use change in the agro-forestry ecotone is typical and critical, particularly those dealing with the analysis of spatial and temporal characteristics and the simulation of climate, hydrology, and other environmental effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Can we construct transnational or international public service advertising to counterbalance the proliferation of transnational commercial advertising? As an important first step in exploring the possibility of such an application of shared media public diplomacy among nations, this paper describes a complete survey of commercial and public service advertisements collected from the public spaces of subway systems in American and Chinese cities in 2010 – New York, Washington, DC, Shanghai and Beijing – to reveal the range of themes of commercial and public service ads in these spaces. The study reveals first that analogous commercial and public service ads are ubiquitous in the public spaces of both Chinese and American cities. Second, many of the themes that might appear in international or transnational public service ads are already being portrayed in ads created by local or national governments or NGOs, although these themes are portrayed in ads created by different sets of actors in China and in the US: government actors and a few international NGOs in Chinese cities, and governments, corporations and non-profit organizations in the case of American cities. Finally, the survey reveals that in all four cities there are many commercial advertisements that appeal to the identity of a transnational consumer, but that there are almost no public service ads that appeal to the identity of a transnational citizen: merely local or national ones who can solve such public problems as global warming, education, and health issues. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Despite emergent trends of geo-economic integration between nation-states, the role of realist-driven geopolitical calculation appears highly enduring. This paper explores the potential contradictions between state-centric geopolitical concerns and transnational geo-economic formation through an exploration of China-US tensions over Taiwan, a territory of indeterminate geo-legal status and which China regards as its own province. I consider how the Taiwan Relations Act, a domestic public law of the US that frames US-Taiwan relations and has a major influence on East Asian geopolitics, could contradict emergent 'China region', and possibly even China-US, geo-economic integration. This is because the US-sustained arms sales to Taiwan rest on imagining and containing China as a 'threat', while geo-economic integration entails enrolling China as a strategic partner, if not an ally. Consequently, the Taiwan issue could stifle the enhancement of Sino-American relations at a historical juncture when the Chinese and American economies are more intertwined than ever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incidents of counterfeit products harming humans have been widely reported in the western press. Counterfeit handbags and jeans are easily obtainable at several well-known locations around the world, including many in the United States. The construction industry is not immune from the worldwide problems of counterfeiting. Research reported on by this paper identified the center of the problem as the People's Republic of China (PRC). In addition, the research concluded that there are significant differences in the attitudes toward counterfeiting exhibited by people living and working in North America and those living and working in the PRC. The research, based on almost 200 interviews, revealed that most Chinese manufacturers believe that 'close enough is good enough' and many Chinese have a hard time understanding why that is not acceptable to the U.S. market. Of course, many U.S. and Canadian companies have had great success procuring quality material and products from China, but most have achieved this success through extensive education and training of the Chinese manufacturer and supplier, and excruciating diligence in the oversight of their entire supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Online privacy seeks to protect the identity of individuals who use the internet to collect information or express opinions. However, given the proliferating vehicles through which one''s identity can be ascertained, the question remains as to what policies can most effectively protect personal identity. This paper explores the similarities and differences with online privacy regulation in the United States and China. The scope of privacy measures examined here ranges from government to personal levels, from communication and finance to personal records, for adults and children. As might be expected in a democracy, American legislative initiatives are more comprehensive and far-reaching than those of their Chinese counterparts. In China, there was until recently no specific right of privacy specified in dedicated legislation, with privacy having been instead protected under the right of reputation in the Civil law. Policy implications stemming from these competing models are evaluated. Study findings underscore the notion that privacy should be a universally established individual right, and that both countries are moving—at least in rhetorical terms—to strengthen it as such. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This introductory paper briefly outlines some of the major developments that are shaping the political-economy of the East Asian region. The implications of the rise of China and the possible decline of the US are considered, before introducing the individual contributions to this special issue. Este articulo de presentacion resalta brevemente algunos de los mayores desarrollos que estan dando forma a la economia politica de la region del Asia oriental. Antes de presentar las contribuciones individuales a este numero especial, se han considerado las implicaciones del ascenso de la China y el posible descenso de los Estados Unidos. [image omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the migration rates from both China and India to the U.S. have accelerated. Since 2000 more than a third of foreign-born Chinese and 40% of foreign-born Indians have arrived in that country. This paper will document the evolving patterns of immigration from China and India to the U.S. by tracing the history of immigration and racial discrimination, the dramatic transitions that have occurred since the mid-20th century, and the current demographic and socioeconomic profiles of these two migrant groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper engages in a preliminary examination of US antidumping actions against China and addresses the conditions under which US industries are likely to initiate antidumping petitions against Chinese firms and obtain affirmative antidumping rulings from regulatory authorities. We conjecture that China's accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO) has not enhanced the prospect of Chinese firms successfully defending themselves against antidumping suits initiated by the US for three reasons. First, the rather dramatic expansion in US-China trade and, in particular, in US imports from China, has led US antidumping authorities to more aggressively pursue antidumping cases against China. Second, WTO membership has resulted in increasing US investment in China, thus undercutting the competitive advantage of some small domestic firms relative to those that have invested in the Chinese market, and leading the former to lobby more rigorously for protection from Chinese imports. Third, as China has agreed to the non-market economy (NME) designation in antidumping investigations for up to 15 years upon accession, its NME status has led US antidumping authorities to apply more stringent criteria in antidumping investigations. We support our argument with statistical analyses of the pattern of US antidumping initiation and adjudication against China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The remarkable economic rise of China and the recent turmoil in US financial markets inevitably raises questions about the respective fortunes of both countries. This paper assess the relative standing of the US and China by placing their relationship in historical context. It is suggested that China's accession to the WTO marked the highpoint of US influence and ascendancy. Since then, China's position has been steadily improving, something that the recent emergence of its first sovereign wealth fund and its subsequent role in bailing out distressed US financial institutions has dramatically highlighted. If China's form of 'state capitalism' continues to become more influential it will have major consequences for not only the US, but for the extant geopolitical order more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines US, Japanese, and European political economy approaches to China, and their effect on US-Japan and US-EU relationships. Great powers with a greater security concern in dealing with another major country care more about power while those with less of a concern are preoccupied with calculations for wealth. China's rise and its actions have posed a far greater security challenge to the United States and Japan and are driving the two countries closer together. The political economy game involving China reveals a dominant welfare motive among the advanced market economies. The ambition to transform China politically has diminished. China's integration into the global market makes a relative gains approach difficult to implement. Globalization simply limits the ability of a state to follow a politics-in-command approach in the absence of actual military conflict, which explains why the political economy approaches of the United States, Europe, and Japan are not that different in the scheme of things. China's own grand strategy to reach out to the world to outflank the US-Japan alliance has also contributed to a divergent European policy toward China although there are severe limitations to Beijing's ability to drive a wedge between the United States and Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]