China-watchers are fleeing the country for other Asian hubs
The exodus is turning Singapore into the Vienna of the 21st century
IN THE HERMIT days of Mao Zedong’s China, few foreign observers of the country lived there or could even visit. China-watchers—whether they were academics, journalists, diplomats or spooks—were scattered across Asia and beyond, or perched on China’s edge in the listening post of British-run Hong Kong. Analysis of the Chinese economy and, especially, of the Communist Party’s secretive politics was often just finger-in-the-wind speculation—and frequently wrong.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Offshore Beijing”
From the March 5th 2022 edition
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