Opinion Has It: Rana Mitter on the Communist Party of China at 100

Rana Mitter discusses how the Party has held onto power for so long – and considers whether it is losing its grip. The PS Say More Newsletter | [View this message in a web browser]( In this week's newsletter, we present the newest episode of our podcast, Opinion Has It. Every other week in Opinion Has It, host Elmira Bayrasli is joined by a leading expert to examine a critical and timely issue. The Communist Party of China at 100 [The Communist Party of China at 100]( In this episode, Elmira talks with Rana Mitter, the director of the China Centre at the University of Oxford, about how the Communist Party of China arrived at its recent centennial – and what its future holds. Listen now on [PS]( [Apple]( [Google]( [Soundcloud]( or [Spotify](. [The Communist Party of China at 100]( The Communist Party of China, founded a century ago, has been in power for more than seven decades – and it has big plans for the future. What do those plans entail, and is the Party still strong enough to implement them? This week on the podcast, [Rana Mitter]( explains how the Party has held onto power for so long – and considers whether it is losing its grip. [Listen now]( Opinion Has It is also available on your favorite listening app. Listen now on [Apple]( [Google]( [Soundcloud]( or [Spotify](. PS. For more analysis of the Communist Party of China's centennial, check out our latest Big Picture collection, [China’s Communists at 100]( featuring Minxin Pei, Chris Patten, Nancy Qian, and more. In this episode... Elmira Bayrasli: The CCP’s World War II narrative not only fosters patriotic sentiment at home; it also highlights China’s cooperation with allied forces and positions the country as a founder of the post-1945 world order....Rana says this narrative about the twentieth century offers valuable insights into China’s position in the twenty-first. Rana Mitter: I think it was February of last year, 2020. I think one of the last trips I managed to make overseas from the UK, where I lived before the pandemic hit and all travel shut down, was to Munich to the annual Munich Security Conference. And there was a speech made by the foreign minister of China, Wang Yi, in which he pointed out something that actually Chinese leaders have been saying for a long time, which is that 1945, the end of WWII, was also the moment at which China was not just any signatory, but the first ever signatory to the United Nations’ charter, which is factually correct. Why on Earth would this be a significant thing to say? Because even a generation or two ago, the story that China told... [Read the transcript]( Listen now on [PS]( [Apple]( [Google]( [Soundcloud]( or [Spotify](. [PS. The latest on politics for less than $9 a month.]( Previously in Opinion Has It [Merkel's Complicated Legacy]( [Merkel's Complicated Legacy]( with [Constanze Stelzenmüller]( who holds the Fritz Stern chair on Germany and trans-Atlantic Relations at the Brookings Institution As German Chancellor Angela Merkel prepares to step aside after 16 years in office, Germany, Europe, and the world are entering a new, more uncertain phase – one that will be significantly shaped by her legacy. But which one? Listen now on [PS]( [Apple]( [Google]( [Soundcloud]( or [Spotify](. Or [read the transcript](. [Check out the Opinion Has It archive]( Previously in Say More [An Interview with Nancy Qian]( [An Interview with Nancy Qian]( [Nancy Qian]( shows how China’s poor should factor into America's China policy, offers a new perspective on the Great Chinese Famine, and highlights necessary changes in economic research. Qian is Professor of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and Founding Director of China Econ Lab and Northwestern University's China Lab. [Check out the Say More archive]( [Special-Edition Magazine: Back to Health]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [LinkedIn]( Project Syndicate publishes and provides, on a not-for-profit basis, original commentary by the world's leading thinkers to more than 500 media outlets in over 150 countries. This newsletter is a service of [Project Syndicate](. [Change your newsletter preferences](. Follow us on [Facebook]( [Twitter]( and [YouTube](. © Project Syndicate, all rights reserved. [Unsubscribe from all newsletters](.