It is a time of leadership transitions. The US has had its monumentally expensive election. There are changes in North Korea, now headed by a leader who has initiated modest internal reforms in an otherwise brutal state.
Then, there is the meeting of the 18th Communist Party Congress in China, where a leadership transition is taking place in strict, choreographed style. Things have been rocky in the Politburo, due to scandals involving murder and systemic corruption. The body is deeply factional and fractious, despite the public face of unity. Social media and the communication cycle have made clamping down on rumours even more difficult.
The executive body of the Congress has formalised a list of names for congress delegates to review. The favourite remains Vice President Xi Jinping (pictured), who has for some time positioned himself to replace President Hu Jintao. Yet even he has become enigmatic, disappearing from public view in September without any formal explanation, failing to make scheduled meetings with foreign dignitaries and troubling China observers.
It would seem that the problems that face China and its citizens are considerable.
Under Hu, the security establishment blossomed, and economic reforms stalled. Party officials, mindful of fears that Chinese growth has become lethargic, released figures on Friday showing that the sluggishness is abating. Output from factories, workshops and mines rose 9.6 per cent in October, from 9.2 per cent in September. Consumer spending has increased while inflation kept down to 1.7 per cent.
'What a lovely dataset to welcome in China's new set of leaders,' crowed HIS Global Insight economists Ren Xianfang and Alistair Thornton. In his drawn-out farewell address, Hu claimed that 'People's quality of life has dramatically improved. Democracy and the legal system has been improved.'
In real terms, the Chinese leadership have been mobilising their citizens for a popular platform for Beijing's sabre rattling in territorial disputes. The attempts to target Japanese companies over the Senkaku-Diaoyu Islands is one such instance, a mixture of popular indignation and state orchestration. But behind the political agitation lie genuine efforts to forge ties and bypass the heated engagements.
Realpolitik is not a citizen's priority. Chinese students are flocking to institutions in the US and Australasia. American