Will Kim Jong-un ever give up his nuclear ambitions or allow economic reforms into North Korea?

Professor Mitter discusses the Tiananmen Square Massacre thirty years later and the 100th Anniversary of the May Fourth Movement as well as and the future of Chinese pluralism after the coming to power of Xi Jinping.

There is nothing inevitable about the expansion of democracy. Among countries with populations above one million, there were only 11 democracies in 1900, 20 in 1920 and 29 in 1974. Only for the past quarter of a century has democracy been the world’s predominant form of government. By 1993, the number of democracies had exploded to 77—representing, for the first time in history, a majority of countries with at least one million people. By 2006, the number of democracies had ticked up to 86.

When the Trump administration blocked U.S. firms last year from providing critical parts to ZTE Corp., it quickly paralyzed the Chinese telecom company and threatened to force it into bankruptcy — until President Trump issued a last-minute reprieve as a favor to Chinese President Xi Jinping.